A hands-on deep dive into the beautiful heritage craft of natural textile dyeing led by experienced tutors Ginny Farquhar and Sam Jones.

Over 4 days you will prepare and mordant a range of natural fibres to ensure optimum dye take up and rich lasting colour.

You will learn how to identify, source, and process natural dye materials and extract their pigments, making and using multiple dye baths and indigo vats to create your own sample cards and build a personal reference library.

By the end of the course you’ll have produced a vibrant palette on both yarn and cloth, developed a deeper understanding of the chemistry behind natural dyes, and gained the confidence to continue dyeing independently at home.

Day 1 – Overview, fibre preparation, mordanting, natural dyes theory and substantive dyes.

Day 2 – Yellows and extending the colour range using modifiers.

Day 3 - Reds and pinks

Day 4 - Indigo Blues and overdyeing.

Ginny and Sam trained with master dyer Jenny Dean at Ditchling museum. They set up the dye garden at the Museum of Farnham in 2024 and teach a variety of classes on natural dyes for textiles.

Please bring an apron, marigold style gloves, and note book and pen.