A Weavers Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers by Rita Buchanan (1999)
-A nice in depth book including some history on each plant. Has a good section on bark too. I like this one for the horticultural information on actually growing the plants. Some extras in this book include a section on soap plants for naturally cleaning your fibers and a section on fragrant plants to scent and protect textiles. There is also a nice little chapter at the end on how to design your dye garden and suggested plant pairings.
A Dyers Garden: From Plant To Pot Growing Dyes for Natural Fibers by Rita Buchanan (1995)
-Same author as the previous book and this has much of the same info but in a more concise list type format. I really like this book because it has many of the plants I chose for my dye project. Along the sides of the pages are photographic examples of the different dye and mordant combinations on samples of fibers
The Handbook of Natural Plant Dyes by Sasha Duerr
- There is a good section on finding dye stuffs right from your own kitchen and how you can compost them when you are done. I love composting :) This book seems to have a lot of good info on plants I haven't seen in the other books such as olive tree and red maple leaf dyes. It also has a lovely philosophy on slow textiles (akin to the Slow Food movement). I love that she acknowledges the need to slow life down, appreciate nature, community, and family.
Natural Dyes by Judy Hardman and Sally Pinhey
-I liked this book for the sheer quantity of dyeing materials listed. There is info on flowers, leaves, bark, berries, and roots. There is a wonderful section at the end on how to dry your plant materials for later use which I find very valuable.
Natural Dyeing by Jackie Crook
-My first thought on this book was What a great section on Mordanting!! Complete with pictures and a chart of mordant strength based on the type of fiber. There is a little blurb on each plant then a very specific dyeing recipe. It has tons of beautiful macro pictures. Nothing on Japanese Indigo though which is a little disappointing.
Harvesting Color by Rebecca Burgess
-This book is pretty and I love the photos but centered more on gathering dye plants from nature than growing in your garden. There are little maps of the US for each plant heading which was really helpful. Many of the plants listed are native to the southwestern US. There is a cute hat knitting pattern in the back for putting the yarn you spin or dye to good use!
The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing by Eva Lambert and Tracy Kendall
-This book had some really nice ideas on indigo dyeing and results from overdyeing. There is a also a sweet section on multicolor dyeing and resist dyeing that I haven't seen in the other books. My only issue is the dyes used are tough to obtain unless you order powders from a supplier. There wasn't one plant listed that will be used in my experiment.
Wild Color by Jenny Dean
-My favorite of all the books I've come across. Its a beautiful book with tons of great information on cultivation and harvest of each dye material. Lots of flower and bark dyeing info. Along the side of each page is a color swatch of the dye material with different mordants. Good concise directions of how to process the materials as well.
This is by no means all of the natural dyeing books out there. There is information everywhere on natural dyeing. I'll continue to add to this list as I find more references.
Do you have a favorite reference on natural dyeing?
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