Sustainable Fashion~ Natural Fabrics and Dyes
I live in Vancouver, Canada, where my perennial garden is a constant source of inspiration.
My wearable art is handmade, one of a kind pieces, created using 100% natural fabrics. The natural dyes I use are a sustainable way of creating colours on cloth.
Natural fibres~ Silk, Merino Wool, Linen, Cotton
Natural Dyes~ Indigo, Madder, Logwood, Weld, Lac, Persimmon, Cochineal, Myrobalan
Watching colours change and emerge from a dye bath is a magical experience.
I use various Shibori resist techniques that I learned while studying in Japan. I love the surprise and wonder each time I unfold a piece of Shibori, whether it has been folded, stitched or clamped.
Indigo, one of the earliest textile dyes, is my favourite. When fabric is removed from an Indigo vat it is green in colour and changes to that gorgeous blue when it comes in contact with oxygen in the air. Watching the transformation is miraculous!
A deep Blue is achieved by repeatedly dipping the cloth into the Indigo vat, taking it out of the vat and allowing it to oxidize in the air. The deep blue does not come from leaving the cloth in the vat for a long time. Ten dips will give an almost black blue. Several dips will give a very pale sky blue. Both are beautiful!
My travels in Japan and India awakened my love of slow fashion~ rooted in centuries of traditional craftsmanship. Slow fashion~ using natural fabrics and dyes~ has a minimal impact on our environment. We are becoming more and more aware of the damage to our planet of mass production and chemical dyes.
My background in the Visual Arts as a painter leads me to approach each of my scarves as I would an abstract painting. You can find more of my work, including my paintings, at https://www.marydowne.ca and https://www.marydowne.com