Description
A lightweight pure silk twill scarf with hand-rolled hems which I have printed using local leaves and flowers and dyed sage green. This scarf features golden walnut leaf prints, along with green gold forest pansy, silver maple, false acacia, whitebeam, silver birch and black lace and features a fabulous dark hollyhock flower. The fresh and airy tone is of glowing golds and greens on a muted sage background.
Measurements: 130cm x 35cm
Silk Twill
One of the great benefits of silk twill is that it has a wonderful drape and excellent durability for it’s weight. The very famous and prestigious Hermes of Paris silk scarves are mostly made out of the silk twill fabric.
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. This beautiful sage green colour is the result of steaming the black flowering heads of the common reed for an hour.
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.
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.
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