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I remember the first time I pulled a skein of handspun yarn out of an onion skin bath dyepot! It was one of those "Ah Ha" moments that turned my world around. No roadside plant was safe. I pulled it up, immersed it in a pot of boiling water and couldn't wait to see what rainbow of color Mother Nature gave me!
Dyeing is just so much fun! That's why, when Eileen Hallman from New World Textiles told me of her new find in the textile industry --EZ Dye Cotton -- I was thrilled. I immediately saw the potential for my customers. Now they could dye yarns and sliver without the use of chemical mordants to set the dyes. They could weave a fabric and once off he loom dye it. Our new EZ Dye Napkin Kit combines 10/2 untreated cotton yarn with EZ Dye 10/2 Cotton in a Log Cabin technique that is dyed after the fabric is removed from the loom.
Kathy Hattori from Botanical Colors was the perfect person to test Eileen's EZ Dye fabrics with her liquid natural dyes. Together we came up with three lovely colors for the EZ Dye Log Cabin Napkin Kit. Fustic (bark of mulberry family tree for our Squash Blossom yellow), Lac ( a scale insect extract for our Summer Rose) and Indigo (from the indigofera tinctora plant for our Palm Beach Blue). By providing you with these liquid dyes, it is so much easier to dye the natural way!
Then I remembered our spinners and knew they'de love to spin their own yarn for these napkins. Could I get the EZ Dye Cotton Sliver? Sure enough, Eileen found it and two spinning kits were born. Spin All Your Yarn & Weave EZ Dye Napkin kit and our Spin Some Yarn and Weave EZ Dye Napkin kit.
All EZ Dye Napkin kits include complete warping, weaving and dyeing instructions along with your choice of dye color.
I haven't dyed in years, but I think I'm ready to get out my dyepots and give it a whirl. It will bring back such found memories of my "Ah Ha" moments in the '70's! How about you?
Kathy Hattori (Botanical Colors) is our guest blogger this month. Click Here to see how she chose these natural dye colors.
Eileen Hallman's EZ Dye article, "Dyeing Gets EZ-er" is in the March/April 2012 Handwoven.
Our EZ Dye Log Cabin Napkin Kit is featured in the GOODS section of the May/June 2012 issue of Handwoven. | 
