Join textile artist Fiona Eastwood for a practical introduction to natural indigo and woad dyeing. Over the day, you’ll learn how to prepare and use a traditional dye vat to create beautiful blue tones on a range of fabrics and yarns.

We’ll start with a visit to the museum’s Dye Garden to see woad and Japanese indigo growing and learn how these plants are cultivated. You’ll prepare different fibres - including cotton, wool, silk, and linen - for dyeing, then create samples using various vats to compare the colours produced.

Indigo dyeing is a fascinating process to watch, as fabric changes colour when it’s lifted from the vat and exposed to air.

This workshop is suitable for beginners and those with some experience who want to learn more about dyeing with indigo in a relaxed and supportive setting.

Lunch and Materials Included.

About The Artist

Fiona is a weaver and dyer with a BA from Camberwell School of Art and a postgraduate teaching degree from the London Institute for Education. She helps manage the Dye Garden at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, finding deep reward in the process - from growing dye plants to dyeing yarns and using them in her textiles.

Passionate about the unique qualities of plants and the colours they yield, Fiona aims to help others reconnect with nature through foraging and growing dye plants for creative projects. She has led natural dyeing workshops for the National Trust, the Forest School Association, and local artists and schools. Recently, she collaborated with Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings MBE on Drawn to the Light as part of Double Weave: Bourne and Allen Modernist Textiles at the museum.