Learn how to cultivate plants for natural dyes

By Sequim Gazette Staff • July 31, 2024 1:30 am
Photo by Roxann Harr Indigo, calendula, rose petals and, even vegetables like beets, carrots and onion skins can be used to dye fabric. Find out how to grow plants to color your world the natural way from Marylou Ozbolt-Storer, Roxann Harr and Darlene Sabo as they offer “Creating a Garden of Natural Dyes,” a Green Thumb Education Series presentation, from noon-1 p.m. on Aug. 8 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Port Angeles. Pictured is Woodcock Demonstration Garden’s dye garden.
Photo by Roxann Harr Indigo, calendula, rose petals and, even vegetables like beets, carrots and onion skins can be used to dye fabric. Find out how to grow plants to color your world the natural way from Marylou Ozbolt-Storer, Roxann Harr and Darlene Sabo as they offer “Creating a Garden of Natural Dyes,” a Green Thumb Education Series presentation, from noon-1 p.m. on Aug. 8 at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Port Angeles. Pictured is Woodcock Demonstration Garden’s dye garden.

Humans have been using plant-based dyes for thousands of years to color their clothing and furnishings, create art and enhance their lives through expression, though much of the know-how on growing plants used for dyes has been replaced with the use of artificial dying processes.

Find out how to color your world the natural way from Marylou Ozbolt-Storer, Roxann Harr and Darlene Sabo at the Green Thumb Education Series presentation, “Creating a Garden of Natural Dyes,” from noon-1 p.m. on Thursday, Au. 8, at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 510 E. Park Ave., Port Angeles.

Or, join via Zoom at wsu.zoom.us/j/93629898830 (Meeting ID 936 2989 8830, passcode 676224), or join by phone by calling 253-215-8782.

The trio will discuss which plants to grow for the colors, fabric types to dye and how to care for those plants.

Harr has been a Master Gardener since 2019. She moved to Sequim from King County in 2022 and quickly transferred to Clallam County’s Master Gardner program. The dye garden at Woodcock Demonstration Garden is her first introduction to creating natural dyes.

Ozbolt-Storer is a Clallam County Master Gardener intern and has been a member of the Seattle Weaver’s Guild since 1968. She is a weaver, spinner, felter and dyer who owned a handwoven clothing business from 1978-1990. She retired in 2019.

Sabo began dyeing wool about 30 years ago, searching secondhand shops for used wool. Not all the pieces were suitable, so she learned to dye fabrics on her own. Over the years, she began selling her surplus of hand-dyed wool, which led to forming her business, Olympic Wool Works. Sabo’s newest focus is creating fabric collages from wool and other fabrics and exploring ways to include natural and plant-dyed fabrics in her future designs.

The Green Thumb Education Series, sponsored by the Washington State University Clallam County Master Gardeners, is held on the second and fourth Thursday of each month through October. In November, December, and January, one lecture is offered. Scheduled presentations are subject to change.

For more information, call 360-565-2678.