Posts by Margaret Yates

When President Macron of France offered to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain it reminded me of the 19th century embroiderers of Leek, Staffordshire who embroidered a complete facsimile of the...

  I went to a girls’ grammar school where they thought it was appropriate to spend 4 years studying Latin but only about 6 weeks studying chemistry. Consequently, I don’t even know what...

  I usually like to use natural materials for dyeing. I like the whole foraging process and the subtlety of colours you get. But recently I thought I would have a go at dyeing with food...

Although there is a well-established and very sensible home-dyers rule that you don’t mix dyeing and food preparation equipment, that doesn’t mean you can’t get colour from the food in your...

Dyeing only a selected part of a textile can be tricky! Across the centuries people in many different cultures have found ways of preparing their threads or fabrics so that only part of it is...

  This month I'm talking about the heroes and (usually) heroines of the dyeing world. First up is India Flint (@prophetofbloom) who strides the world with eco-dyed cloth streaming out behind...

Ever since I started using natural dyes I've been intrigued by descriptions of dyeing silk to make 'red tape'. There was the whole fascination of having a specially produced material with a...

Dyeing isn't the only thing I do but I find I'm doing it a lot!  Spare ten minutes - get the dye pot on.  Lately I've been focusing on dyeing silks with the botanical dyes used before the...