Fashioning Self and the Environment Gifts: 'The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes' Book by Sasha Duerr

Adie + George AW 2011 collection

I am very excited to announce that we will be giving away five copies of Sasha Duerr's gorgeous new book, The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes, published by Timber Press, at the 'Fashioning Self and the Environment' event at Brooklyn's Textile Arts Center on Friday, April 22, from 6 to 9pm. 

As the founder of the Permacouture Institute and a co-designer for Adie + George, Sasha is at the forefront of the slow fashion movement as well as being an advocate for and expert on natural plant dyes and sustainable textiles. This handbook is not only visually inspirational but a unique reference guide to projects for both the novice and expert dye enthusiast. You can read my review of this book on EcoSalon.

Please join us at the Textile Arts Center for this art/fashion Earth Day celebration and the opportunity to learn more about slow fashion goodness and local environmental outreach. You just might be one of the lucky five guests taking Sasha's book home for the evening.

Please rsvp to the Textile Arts Center at rsvp@textileartscenter.com

Upstate Shibori at Kaight Shop

I loved seeing these shibori wraps by Upstate while visiting Kaight with my friends from EcoSalon and Green Beauty Team this past weekend. Indigo and natural plant dyes are definitely the rage at the moment, with recent art installations and textile studios getting in on the action and rewards of this hands-on process. You can read more about shibori in my recent post on the Textile Arts Center's Teem exhibition and Japan fundraiser.

You can find Upstate's 100% raw silk and natural indigo

 dye wraps via Kaight's online shop.

Blogger Style Now: Isa Rodrigues

Some of my favorite bloggers of the moment work quietly behind the scenes, fine-tuning their craft and writing without all of the hoopla of twitter and social media. Isa Rodrigues blogs and tells stories about textiles and fiber the same way that she might weave a new sample of cloth or pick wildflowers for a vat of natural dye in a community-based workshop.

Isa is a textiles conservator, master natural dye-er, and a regular blogger for Brooklyn's Textile Arts Center blog. She also is the resident studio manager at TAC, and if you are ever lucky enough to visit or take a class there, you might see her working out a new weaving problem like the delicate one pictured below.

I love how Isa's writing speaks to her love for textiles and a wealth of information that she has amassed here in the US and abroad. She is also refreshingly humble, though with a dry sense of (Portuguese?) humor that I am probably just catching on to.

You can follow Isa and her knowledgeable colleagues, specifically the industrious Owyn Ruck, on TAC's blog daily. If ever there was a way to wake up and feel good about life, it is with a bit of warp and weft input from the people who know their craft.

Follow Isa and her colleagues on the Textile Art Center's blog here.

*images courtesy of Brooklyn Skillshare, TAC & Isa Rodrigues