When it follow to sustainability in fashion , sometimes you need to look no further than your urban farmer . Liz Spencer , akaThe Dogwood Dyer , is a Brooklyn - based fashonista who has combined her loves of sustainability , gardening and garment - qualification into a full - fledge fabric and cloth - dyeing business , crafting pretty textiles from natural fibers and dye plants she ’s grown herself .
Streetside Dye Garden
Spencer got her feet wet in develop plants for textile dyes in London while act on a sustainable fashion degree from the London College of Fashion . But it ’s in her current home , the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn , N.Y. , where she is revolutionize others with her noesis and design .
With the aid of her partner Sam Barrett , a landscape designer , they designed and build up wooden planters around street tree diagram — a project approved by the city parks department first , of course . Besides beautifying the neighbourhood , these street - side container became the beds where Spencer would produce dyestuff plants used for The Dogwood Dyer .
Unlike with plants intended for food , soil quality and environmental factorsaren’t as crucial a factor , and the dyestuff industrial plant can remain on busybodied city street without any harmful side effects — in fact , many of the dye plantsthrivein nutrient - inadequate soil .
In add-on to these cultivated street - side beds , Spencer scrounge for a variety of aboriginal , non - native and even invading flora in and around New York City . Many of these angry plants — Queen Anne ’s lacing , nettle , goldenrod and thistle — grow in teemingness in fields , along roadsides and in rural areas , and have traditionally been used as natural dyes .
The Natural Dye Process
Protein , oranimal - based fibers , including wool and silk , tend to take natural dyes better , according to Spencer , producing deeper people of colour and broadly more ordered results than industrial plant - based fabrics , like cotton plant and linen . While hotness is commonly associated with the dyeing process , she often uses a cold - process method : The fabric is treated with a mordant , which helps fix the dye paint to the textile and increase color and light - fastness , and then is get out in the dye bathing tub for an prolonged menstruum .
The cold method acting , while requiring time and forbearance , results in richer shade than can be incur in a hot dye bathroom . Each batch of plant - based dyestuff is unique in colour , as every industrial plant will make a more or less different shade , based on harvest time , soil and weather condition conditions .
Large quantities of weewee are require to dye the textile . To make this a more sustainable practice , Spencer recycles 80 percent of this water back into her street gardens , which lessens the overall impact of the piddle usage .
Liz Spencer
Growing an Urban Dyer’s Garden
After run across Spencer and seeing her assemblage of richly colored plant - dyed silks and woolen , along with picture of familiar herbs and dye garden planter arise on Brooklyn street , I was inspired to start my own dyer ’s garden , preponderantly from seed , in a local community garden . Dyer ’s gardens can be grown on the street , on a rooftop , in your backyard ’s raised beds or in container . If you ’re like me and want to garden for more than just food , abide by these tips from Spencer .
Dye and Mordant Plants To Grow In Urban Gardens
If you ’re all lay out to get growing , here are some plants to consider growing in your garden . Keep in mind , dissimilar mordant used with the same flora will create unlike hues . Do some inquiry before you begin the dying process .
Plants for Dyes
Plants for Mordants
Alum , a mineral salt , is the most commonly used mordant , but these plant life - free-base materials can also be get and used :
Liz Spencer
Liz Spencer
Liz Spencer
