Dyer in me is always delighted when I get clearly defined shapes of plants on fabric; as a designer/maker it’s abstract and organic patterns which make my heart skip a beat. This is something I would love to explore more in the future, either by dyeing/eco printing or other techniques.
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The effect you see here I created by crushing dry plants and then eco printing them on silk. The colours are muted and for a while I wasn’t sure what to do with the cloth, esp. how to make the most of the pattern which varies across it and generally, how to minimize the waste. When you spend days waiting for the pigment to bond with the fibre and then weeks/months before washing so that the colours are fast, you really don’t want too many remnants..!
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Eventually I settled on the idea of a large size dress which could be worn as a tunic or just a knee length number and adapted pattern I drafted for this printed tunic. Only later I added straps at the waist and to my delight they have made the dress very versatile. Worn lose it will fit bigger sizes, tied tighter, at the back or even at the front, it suddenly fits size M-S without looking big and baggy!
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Free offer of the pattern for the dress is now closed. The pattern will be available from my shop later in March.