Swatch of the Month Inspiration: Beads + Sequins; June’s Swatch of the Month featuring Transitional Embroidery; “Shade Card” from Journeys in Natural Dyeing: Techniques for Creating Color at Home by Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriguez (pages 182–183); “Oaks galls used to naturally dye June’s Swatch of the Month Embroidery Floss at the Verb Studio in Oakland, California.” Image courtesy of A Verb for Keeping Warm; Naturally Dyed Embroidery Floss by A Verb for Keeping Warm; “Kristine Vejar with indigo dyed fabric” from Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live by Melanie Falick (page 105). Photograph by Rinne Allen.
“Similar to food, cooking, and the act of sharing a meal, our relationship to textiles, growing the materials used to make them, creating them, and using them, is a core tenet of our human experience.” —Kristine Vejar from Journeys in Natural Dyeing
June’s Swatch of the Month is in collaboration with Kristine Vejar and Adrienne Rodriquez from A Verb for Keeping Warm, an online shop and storefront with classes and workshops on natural dyeing, sewing, weaving, and knitting. Verb also houses a dye studio and a natural dye garden from their location in Oakland, California.
Kristine and Adrienne share a part of their own local environment by naturally dyeing embroidery floss with a locally foraged dye for use in June’s swatch.
We find inspiration from Journeys in Natural Dyeing: Techniques for Creating Color at Home the recent book from Kristine and Adrienne. In the book, they visit natural dyers from four countries—Iceland, Mexico, Indonesia, and Japan—and share experiences and stories about the people and places they visit while using locally sourced dyes to create textile projects. The book includes recipes and projects to create more than 400 shades of color and opens a world of natural dyeing inspiration and opportunity available in our own backyards.
Find Journeys in Natural Dyeing here.
Learn more about Kristine, Adrienne, and A Verb for Keeping Warm here.
Join our Swatch of the Month program at any time for explorations in embroidery along with exclusive offerings like the newsletter which includes instructions, behind-the-scenes stories, a list of design choices, first access to promotions and offers, and special collaborations.
Register here or reach out to join: orders@alabamachanin.com or call 256-760-1090.
Find our newest DIY Kits—The Cropped Car Jacket, The Slim Scarf Kit, and The Scarf Kit—featuring Transitional Embroidery, June’s new technique.
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