natural dyeing: black tea

I think I may be falling hard for natural dyes. When I go to the grocery store, the farmer's market, I think about my menu for the week, and think about the natural dye properties of everything I'll consume that week. My freezer right now is half food, half dye materials (avocado, pomegranate and mushrooms, if you want to know). And on Friday as Brandon and I were in search of a piece of clothing for his Halloween costume, I found myself perusing the tops, looking for cotton or linen or wool that would be suitable to dye. 

I was successful, and brought home a 100% cotton tunic for my next project. Saturday I woke up and mordanted the tunic, an organic cotton dishtowel, and a small linen project bag for a few hours, and then brewed up a vat of black tea. In they went! I've noticed that though the process of taking the dye takes at least an hour, I can tell pretty quickly whether or not the color is going to really take in the materials I've put in the dyepot. Still, the anticipation is so fun as I come back every few minutes to poke the items around and watch the progress. 

After an hour, I took the materials out, let them drip out a bit, and then washed them in my washing machine on cold with a tablespoon of dish soap. And then out on the clothesline!
 

It's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but the organic cotton dishtowel took the color the best, followed by the project bag and then the tunic, which dried into a soft tan color. And although the tunic and towel were both labeled "100%" cotton, the threads used clearly weren't, and stayed pure white, which was something I didn't even consider. Lesson learned!

Though time-intensive, I loved this day because it embodied what slow fashion means to me in our life right now. Reducing waste by buying second-hand, seeing beauty in an old, stained garment at a store and naturally, organically turning it into something beautiful and functional. I know that my "tea-shirt" is something that I will value and love and wear to threads. And then mend, and keep on wearing. :)

Slow Fashion October is officially over for this year, but I know I'll carry the principles I've been reminded of and the stories and perspectives of everyone who participated with me into this coming year, and for that I'm grateful. If you need something to read during your lunch hour, I encourage you to go check out Karen's round-ups of some of the best of Slow Fashion October on her blog. They're so inspiring! 

Slow Fashion October: You

Hey friends! This month, in addition to all of my normal postings, I'm going to be doing something a little bit different added to the mix. Karen Templer of Fringe Association had this great idea a couple of months ago to have a whole month dedicated to slow fashion - the idea that the clothes that we wear can be made intentionally, beautifully, ethically and sustainably. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably have picked up that this idea is one that really resonates with me (and you can read a much more eloquent explanation of this whole idea here.). 

So it's the first day of October (yay!) and so about once every week or so I'll be posting a new post around the general template that Karen has laid out.  This should be fun!

So, a little more background on me as a maker. I've been a crafty-type person pretty much my whole life, starting from a young age when my family would take extensive car trips across the country. My parents, desperate to entertain us four kids for several days in the car, equipped us with every sort of kit and activity you could imagine. For me, that meant everything from crochet to knitting with this strange round circular contraption, to needlepoint and cross stitch and latch-hooking and many others. My mother and I also used to sew clothes for my American girl dolls, and I got my first sewing machine when I was 13. Sewing kind of came in and out of my life through high school and out for a while in college, and I have just recently started sewing my own garments as well as a few random household objects. 

My knitting journey started in high school in Florida when a friend of mine in my IB program taught me how to knit. I loved it so much, I knit and eventually started to crochet all through high school and college. But it wasn't until I moved to North Carolina two and a half years ago that my fiber obsession really began and my queue of projects really developed into a full-blown lifestyle. In that time I was introduced to wool in all of its beauty, attended the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY (and am going back this year!) and started to learn about the process of making yarn. My eyes were opened to the environmental impacts that superwash yarns have, as well as the carbon footprint of most commercially made yarns traveling from South America, Australia, China and all over to get to my local craft store. This knowledge, paired with the gristly reality of dye houses and garment factories in Southeast Asia created a real conviction to change the way that I think about my wardrobe and my fiber pursuits, as well as a real love and passion for fibers that are not only beautiful and soft and strong, but are made locally and encourage a newly awakened fiber industry in the U.S. again. 

This month, my goals are less about making and more about being intentional about my current state and where I want to go. I am a big thrifter and lover of secondhand, and while wonderful, this has led me to a place in my wardrobe where I find myself looking into my closet and feeling like my style is all over the place. I would love to find some time to pare down, eliminate items I never wear and really think carefully about what I WANT to wear - and how to make that happen. Whether that be knitting, sewing, mending and altering, spinning yarn I want to knit with, or buying sustainably. I will likely also be knitting lots of bowties for my online shop and starting to knit Timberline for my husband's fall and winter wardrobe. 

So there you have it! If you have any goals or thoughts about Slow Fashion October I would love to hear them. October is already my favorite month and I'm so excited that this project is now a part of it!