experiments in the greenhouse

plants in flower right now, ready for experimenting in the slow textile studia greenhouse...

fuschia and calendula

calendula

golden rod

greenhouse tidied with space made for experiments.

a la India

Inspired by India Flint, 'a whorld wanderer', I decided to have a go at making a dress in her zero wastage method!  Here's some pix of the work in progress.

I used India's pattern from her blog 'the prophet of bloom'

Here's pocket detail which is the bit cut out for the neck.

sustenance!

and here's the dress - only tacked together so far.  Has potential, nice and comfy for working in.  The idea is to use this for a tester as it was an old sheet. Then work out how to make it out of a very lovely piece of silk from my fabric chest, which could then be dyed in 'India's' method of not using chemical/synthetic adjuncts.  might be a while before the finished item appears here..

Got this for my birthday present.  Made my tummy fizzy with excitement.  Opened my eyes to all sorts of possibilities to dye cloth more sustainably.  Happily spent the day finding old pots and pans to use as dye pots.  Searching through my stash of fabrics looking for pieces to play with and sample.

I like India Flint's (she's the author) words of wisdom about exploring for yourself - the only way in which the book is prescriptive is about respect for the earth and using less synthetic chemicals.

Set an old enamelled pan full of onion skins to steep overnight.  

Will make some bundles tomorrow.