Thorough introduction to the natural dying process, while being accessible for the novice. Content is laid out in a very useful format, although I think the physical book would be easier to navigate than the ebook.

Gorgeous book. I don’t dye but I’m curious about it and I would totally gift this to friends who are serious about beginning a full dye journey.

This book is such a gorgeous guide to dyeing fibers naturally. It’s a exceptionally well done book on the subject that I can’t recommend highly enough.

(This book was originally published in the UK in 2017.) A comprehensive and approachable look at dyeing with color from natural sources. Includes information on preparing fabric, foraging for dye materials (leaves, berries, etc.), tools, and caring for dyed fabric. Chapters are organized by type of dye material, such as kitchen/foodstuffs (onion, coffee, etc.). Projects with different types of dye have detailed instructions with step-by-step photos. You can make hand-stitched coasters, a gardener's smock, decorative cushions, and more. Lots of colorful photographs to give information and inspiration.

Another wonderful book! I have used natural dyes in my crafts and cooking in the past. But really wasn't aware of so many plants that could be used to dye. I think most of these should only be used for fabrics (though I have used a few for Easter eggs; but please look elsewhere for safe edible dyes.) I do forage, so I will have to take note of more plants in my area to scour for dye sources! Very useful book for beginner dyers using wild dyes. I look forward to using the book. Also contains ideas for creating things out of the materials. I liked the photos; very useful.

I was unable to download it, but was able to find a copy available at my library!

In my blog (and in the field of theatrical costume production in general), there's not much focus on natural dyes. Costume designers are quite particular about color control, and most of the time when I'm asked to dye something for a show, I'm given a Pantone color or some other extant swatch to which I must color-match the yardage or costume piece. Color control can be difficult with any dyestuff--synthetic or natural--but natural dyes require significant experience to exert the level of control the theatrical discipline generally requires.

That said, I can envision conceptual productions or theater companies for whom natural dyeing was a conscious choice on behalf of the creative team or the organization itself. For example, imagine a costume designer who purposefully chose to create costumes only from naturally dyed fabrics/garments.

If natural dyeing is something you've wanted to try but found intimidating--natural dyes often require mordants or unusual processes to make the reactions work and the chromophores (colorizing elements) bond to the fibers. I've read enough natural-dye textbooks to empathize; it's complicated! Booth's book, however, is not. Her self-taught approach is very accessible.

This book is aimed at the home crafter with an interest in beginning to work with natural dyes. Booth focuses on things you can probably find in nature, or grow in your garden, or even stuff you might stock in your pantry. If your grocery store carries things like red and yellow onions, tea and coffee, black beans and purple cabbage, then you can get what you need to do the dye projects in this book.

After all, theatrically speaking, we DO engage in the type of natural dyeing Booth puts forward in the majority of the projects in this book, which is often controlled staining: if you've ever gotten the note "tea-dip white shirt" or "tech down white shirt" and done it with, yes, tea bags, then you've got the concept down for several of the types of dyes she covers: gentle colors, pastel saturations.

She does talk about iron as a mordant, but that's as complex as it gets, chemically. She doesn't go into vat dyes with a leuco- stage/form (like indigo); if, after you complete a few of the dye projects in this book, you want to know more about the many other types of natural dyes which are chemically more complex, you can start with the Turkey Red Journal and peruse their archives for some great book recommendations!

The dye projects are paired with sewing projects which are also quite simple--coaster, placemats, table runners...I think the most complicated things are aprons. But, since most of my readership consists of professional costumers, there's no reason why you can't use what you learn on more complicated garments or even scaled up on yardage. I mean, I have done the black tea process on a batch of six shirts in my 60-gallon dye vat with industrial sized teabags!

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Wild Dyer is a new tutorial guide for foraging and utilizing wild plants and other materials for dying by Abigail Booth. Originally published in the UK in 2017, this US release by Princeton Architectural Press, out 1st Oct 2019 is 160 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This book is an odd (but interesting) combination of dyeing, crafting (sewing), and foraging wild materials. The emphasis is on sourcing and using dye materials to produce textiles. The introductory chapters (~26% of the content) cover a little bit of color theory, sourcing and using dye materials, tools, and preparing and dyeing fabric. The author's process tutorials include basic instructions for sourcing, scouring, and mordanting techniques and supplies.

The rest of the book covers growing and harvesting materials from the garden, seasonal foraging, and a reference section including an herbal, glossary, resource list, and index.

This is a good resource for -experimentation- .... the author is very upfront about the variables in home dying being multitudinous and difficult to control. This book is quite suitable for exploring and learning alone or in a small workshop type setting. I don't think this book would be useful for crafters looking for a method to produce large quantities of finished fibre/fabric. Also, the colors resulting from the materials in the book are not uniform and some are muddy (i.e., don't expect clear, strong, modern, aniline dyes). This would be perfect for recreationists (SCA people), period re-enactors who are into authenticity and historical folks.

The projects included are basic and can be achieved by anyone; at least one (coasters) is hand-sewn, some of the others are done with a basic straight stitch machine. Some of the projects are of questionable practicality, but they're all earthy and attractive. I have some experience with textiles, including dyeing fabric with natural materials, and I'm intrigued by the author's instruction for using woad. Her process appears to emphasize minimizing oxygen exposure (it's a bit hazy in the book). I am intrigued because she suggests keeping the fermenting woad near a heat source such as a radiator. When I've used woad in the past, the powerfully unpleasant (nauseating) smell wouldn't be welcome in any home I could imagine.

Anyhow, experimentation is key here. There is a lot of good basic information. The photography is well done and abundant.

Four stars.

This is an excellent book on using natural plants to dye cloth with. I have been dyeing for many years now, but I still found this book interesting to read, well laid out and explained in a methodical way. As well as the information on dyeing there are easy and peaceful project to make with the material, as well as information on growing and time to forage.
Using natural plants to dye with can be unpredictable in strength of colour at times, but it is always exciting and creative.
A really good book for anyone starting out or wanting to experiment.

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

I've come across a few books on natural dyeing, this one had a nice combination of both explaining tools, you will need. How to treat your fabrics to prep them for dyeing. On using and making mordants. How to set up the dye vats.
This one has a better flow of reading, gives the feel that it's not as stressful or complicated as it sounds. It's set up based on dyes you can find in your own kitchen or at a grocery store. And also seasonal plant matter you may find in your area. Depending on where you live you may find more of these types of plants, than others. And ones you can plant and grow in your own garden.
It also gives you projects to make that can aide you in your gardening and plant foraging which I also liked.
It has a nice glossary of dye plants too, and the different parts that are used for the dye. It's a good list, but isn't the most comprehensive I've seen.

But all in all, it's a well laid out book for a beginner or intermediate dyer.

What an incredible book! So many wonderful ideas. I especially loved the focus on gardening and wild foraging. I will definitely be purchasing this for my library and recommending it to our patrons.

Very in-depth look at natural dying techniques. Loved learning how to use nature to color my world. I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review and I found it very useful.

I found this book to be inspirational, however would have liked some additional detail for dying various fabrics, and appropriate mordants for doing so. The pictures are beautiful.

This book has been beautifully illustrated and a treasure to read. The information given on dyeing was exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable.

Some excellent information in here about beginning the step to natural dyes. I do junk journaling and knowing some additional dye colors to make will be a fun boost to my pages.

After more research, I downloaded this file once more to see if I could read the .acsm file without using the Adobe Digital Editions because that software poses security issues. Despite significant effort, I cannot. It's a shame because Wild Dyer looks like a very useful and interesting book because I am interested in spinning my own yarn. I'm sorry to put this comment in the review section, but Netgalley does not provide a way to explain this elsewhere because I downloaded the file again after clicking the link indicating I would not review it. As a result, this book remains sitting on my Netgalley shelf. Netgalley also forces me to provide a star rating. I chose one star because I can't actually read the book to review it, but it should not be taken to reflect on the book.

This book is beautiful, but one I would recommend only to strict, devout hippie readers/dyers.

I am interested in learning to dye fabrics for some macramé projects I’m doing, and I live in the woods, so I thought this would be a great place to start as I have access to all sorts of plants, nuts and berries. There were a couple photos of vivid dyes, mostly using berries, but the dyes used in the project examples were very muted, and the process seemed too much work for the end result. The sample projects were not very interesting and they reminded me more of a 1970s craft book of sewing for beginners.

On the plus side, the photographs are beautiful, and I really loved how the book was sectioned into the seasons of the year. This makes it very easy to figure out what projects will work for you at any particular moment of the year.

That said, I do live in an area that attracts people who are very environmentally conscious and I’m familiar with their thinking and values. These people, the kind who are really willing to put in the work, would love this book. I did like the photos that showed the colors you could achieve with different materials, and I think if those muted colors are your aesthetic, then this book would be quite valuable when looking for new projects.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Although this book was not for me, I think it will have value for a different audience and it might be very fun to try some of these dyes with children after a nature walk.

A beautiful book with wonderful photos to go with easy instructions and simple to sew projects for any beginner. It does seem like a process to complete the dying and many household items are needed, but worth the effort in both fun and results. This would be great for any homesteader that may already have a majority of all the items, plants, veggies used, or any home crafter. A public library must have!

This book is a good introduction to using natural dyes. It has an excellent overview of materials needing and of preparing both your fabric and your dye vats.

The heart of the book divides materials used to dye into groups (kitchen, summer, autumn). In them you'll find pictures of the plant material used along with dyed samples. The facing page has the plant's name, a description, and some helpful tips. Each chapter includes two projects to be sewn with the materials you dye.

A later chapter provides guidelines on starting seeds. At the end of the book is a list of colors and the plants that produce it, as well as a helpful list of resources.

It's a useful introduction and a beautifully photographed book.

I've read a handful of books about dyeing fabric with natural materials over the past year and this one is a bit simpler and more accessible than most that I read, which is a plus in my eyes but may be a negative to others. The author breaks the plants down by type -- kitchen plants (like avocado and red onion peels), plants to grow in the garden (like black eyed susans and madder), plants for forage in summer and in fall (like sorrel and elderberries). Each section features a project to hand sew with cloth dyed by plants in that section. The book also briefly goes into mordants (primarily alum and iron).

Each section includes a little picture of the plants scattered on materials dyed with it and with it along with a mordant (which typically makes the color darker and browner/grayer), usually in a grid of 4 beautifully arranged plants per page on scraps of cloth dyed with them.

The photos are beautiful and the projects are lovely. Most are fairly simple. To be honest, some of the dyeing books I've read had more vivid colors and more varieties of plants, but those also seemed more intimidating in scope. This seems like an excellent book for a beginner, especially one who also loves foraging.

My rating system:

1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

What a beautiful book! The Wild Dyer is full of gorgeous photos to go along with useful information on dying with natural matter. Booth has included processes for dyeing both cellulose and protein fibers with various food and plant matter. We aren't all lucky enough to be near all the plant options covered in this book, but this doesn't mean we can't dye at home. Along with the various foods and plants discussed (accompanied by photos of the resultant dyed fabrics from each), Booth has also included several sewing projects to put your dyed fabrics to use. The Wild Dyer would make a handy reference for someone interested in learning about naturally dying their own fabrics.

Thank you to Princeton Architectural Press and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.