The other day, I made tortillas from scratch. Looking back, it wasn’t that monumental, but I felt like I had conquered a personal hurdle. In retrospect, my response seems a bit odd. I love to cook and often try new recipes or experiment with flavors. I bake bread, pizza dough, and crepes, yet I deemed tortillas new terrain. Of course, once I made a few, I had to laugh at my previous apprehension and reveled in the empowerment that comes with making.
You know what I’m talking about: that swell of pride you feel when someone compliments a hand crafted sewn or knitted item and you respond with, “ Thanks, I made it!” The pride goes hand in hand with a satisfying feeling of control. You have some agency in your experiences, even if we’re just talking about what you had for breakfast or are wearing to the store.
That feeling is multiplied when you’ve had a hand in the creation from the very beginning. That’s one of the reasons folks grow their own vegetables, spin their own yarn, and pattern and dye their own fabric.
It’s what brought me to patterning and dyeing fabric. I wanted to be the maker from scratch.
Whether it was quilts:
Rainbow Coil Quilt, 72” x 72”, hand dyed cottons
or pillows:
Hand dyed improv pieced pillow.
Here too, all the fabrics were hand dyed and patterned. Can’t take credit for the cat :).
Or garments:
Ogden Cami designed by True Bias made out of hand dyed and patterned cotton lawn.
For me, the experience of sewing pretty much anything is enhanced by stitching it out of hand crafted fabric.
I’m not alone in that sentiment, as I’m often asked about teaching dye workshops. Sadly, the logistics of transporting class materials is a huge limiting factor in traveling for in-person classes.
Enter the Pandemic and teaching over Zoom. Having already had some zoom experience, I reasoned that these techniques could be taught virtually. I designed a three-part series focused on teaching the dye techniques I use to create just about everything I sew or sell.
With a combination of pre-recorded videos, a shared slide presentation, and multiple cameras I demo and explain the processes I use for my patterned and ombre dyed fabrics. As an added bonus, folks don’t have to wait until I show up in their town, they can join my class, supplies in hand, from the comfort of their basements/garages/backyards.
Currently, I’m offering T O N A L , Design & Dye, and R E S I S T . T O N A L focuses on basic dye information while teaching the student how to dye gradients of a single color, Design & Dye delves into creating pattern without resist , and R E S I S T is all about combining wax resist with dye. The classes do build on themselves, but both T O N A L and Design & Dye are geared for beginners with some of the information repeated.
My spring schedule is up with workshops slated for May and June.
Come join me. We’ll be making it all from scratch!