Midnight Blue Bamboo Silk Satin Scarf Naturally Dyed and Botanically Printed with Leaves and Flowers

Description

Imprints from real leaves and flowers and natural dyes on a beautifully soft luxurious bamboo silk satin fabric. Bamboo silk satin feels similar to sanded silk, and has a beautiful drape and subtle sheen. It has been stitched as a flattened “tube” so that you get pattern and colour all around and a double layer of fabric.

Measurements: 170cm x 22cm

The Fabric:
Bamboo silk satin is a more sustainable fabric than silk as it doesn’t require the killing of thousands of silk worms to harvest the fibres. Yet it feels just as luxurious and has a sanded silk texture.

My Process:
Natural dyeing requires very careful preparation of the fabric, to remove anything leftover from the manufacturing process, and to then treat it so that the dye colour will be long lasting. I use some powdered dye extracts as well as dyes from my own dye garden and surrounding plants. i regularly forage for leaves on my walks and from my own garden plants which I’ve selected for their printing properties. My mental map of my local area is formed around the trees and plants I have come to know and love, whether in car park, on a roundabout, deep in the forest, or outside the local scout hut! Fabric and leaves together are steamed for one to two hours to extract the pigments from the leaves and flowers leaving their beautifully detailed shapes and veining immortalised in the fabric.

Things to Note: Naturally dyed fabrics will fade when exposed to strong sunlight so to keep the colours bright, it is best to store your scarf somewhere away from direct light.

The colours are also best preserved by using a natural soap for washing, certainly don’t use anything that involves chemical ‘brighteners’.

Hand wash or gentle machine wash, then iron whilst still damp for best results.