Fabric To Dye For

If you've ever seen the colourful work of Freida Anderson, you will know that she hand-dyes all of her fabrics. This 80 page book published by C&T Publishing is squarely aimed at the first time dyer. About a third of the book is devoted to the basics of dyeing including: sourcing supplies and equipment; setting up your dyeing workspace; preparing your dyes and fabric; dyeing 12-step colour wheel gradations in dark, medium and light values; dyeing 6-step gradations in complementary colours and colour family sets; flat dyeing and using resists; washing and drying your fabrics. This is followed by a six page quilt gallery; a ten page section of fusing and finishing basics (fused binding, pillow-case finish, pleated sleeves and labels) and five fused projects with increasing complexity (Jack in the Pulpit, Irises, a dog portrait, Autumnal Trees, and Amish Leaves.) There are lots of bright photos to get you in the mood (who can resist the lolly-like appeal of colour gradations?!) Frieda uses a method of pre-soaking fabrics in soda-ash solution and then applying dye solutions made from simple formulae using cup, tablespoon and teaspoon measurements. It's not rocket science, it's not hard and it's not novel but that's the point. For someone who is new to the wonder of dyeing, the book presents clear step-by-step instructions to get started. I wish Frieda's book Fabric to Dye For had been available when I first started dyeing fabrics.--Serendipity, March 26, 2010