From the Natural Dyes List on Yahoo!Groups:             To see if any mushroom will give color, pick the mushroom, crumble it into a small jar, pour boiling water over it, put the lid on and shake it.  Let it sit 1/2 to 1 hour, and see if color develops.  If it has good color in the jar, divide the jar into two more jars, making three samples.  Add a bit of vinegar to one, and ammonia to the other leaving one neutral.  See if the color changes one way or the other, and which has the best … Continue reading Dyeing with toadstools

I’m hard at work on the green kirtle, amongst other things, but I don’t have much to show for it yet.  Here’s a couple of teasers: This is not how the pleats work.What didn’t work was a pleat grid of 1/2".  I rethought, and divided each half into four giant pleats, which will then be stitched under the bosom – since that wouldn’t change beyond the capabilities of the laced front closure to handle – and I’ve come up with a belt-loop-like device to make the bottom end of the pleats adjustable by the day, with no sewing. That yellow … Continue reading Green Kirtle – bad pleats

So I have 5.75 yards of chocolate brown 100% dressweight linen.  What dress shall I make?  I need helpful suggestions from YOU. It must be a working class dress, because my raison d’etre is to figure out what ordinary people have forgotten from our ancestors, but because this is such dark fabric, it might be a Best Dress.  It would look wonderful with red wool embroidery. Also because the fabric is so dark, it must be a Winter Dress, because (all together now) ‘I live at 30dN, same as Cairo’, and it will be a solar heater.  It may match … Continue reading Winter Dress Suggestions Sought

So Joann’s is having an end-of season sale, and marked all their linen 60% off.  Mel made sure we all knew about it. I was skeptical of buying anything, because, after all, my green kirtle isn’t done, I have another shift’s worth of handkerchief linen left, and should I want to emulate a Renaissance Italian prostitute, nearly a dress’ worth of saffron linen left from Spoon’s Saffron Shirt.  I don’t like to keep a Stash. But I thought since it’s so easy for me to swing by and check, I’ll swing by and check, and tell everyone on list. At … Continue reading Brown Linen score!