Vegetable Dyes: A Book of Recipes and Information Useful to the Dyer

by Ethel M. Mairet

"Short, to the point, chock full of practical 'how to' information – and very affordable, to boot. Ethel M. Mairet's classic Vegetable A Book of Recipes and Information Useful to the Dyer is far and away my all time favorite single-source natural dyeing handbook, a real must-have 'Dyer's Bible.'" – Jessica Martin, Award-Winning Fiber Artist.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

84 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Ethel Mary Coomaraswamy, nee Partridge, later Mrs. Mairet (1872-1952), was a British author, photographer and weaver.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested in Vegetable Dyes: Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer by Ethel M Mairet, author because I have tried to use both onion skins and walnut husks as dyes with some success. My color of yellow came out a very soft pretty yellow on the cotton tee shirt I tried to dye. I wanted to find out how to get a brighter yellow and this book gave me several hints to make that happen.

The walnut tee shirt I tried came out a dirty brown and I now wear it to garden. I don't plan to try to get brown again with the walnut husks because it just looks like a dirty brown and not what I was looking for in using natural dyes.

This informational book gives directions from the type of water (soft) to how to prepare the fabric and recipes for the dye with timing for best results. A very useful reference book for any future dyeing that I attempt and interesting reading.

[Alex Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of natural dye recipes. I enjoyed reading it because it is basically pages and pages of lists of colors and wild plants and chemistry. It's given me ideas of what to do next with my fibers and I will no doubt refer to it for all my dye and I k projects.