Introduction to Natural Dyeing and Sustainable Textile Art

Love nature and being creative? Want to create in a more sustainable way? Enjoy sewing or would like to give it a go? Learn to dye repurposed fabric with plants and kitchen waste and then create a beautiful mini quilt with your dyed fabric.

Learn the basics of how to prepare fabric, collect and store kitchen waste and prepare a dye bath. Have a go at eco printing with foraged leaves and make patches using dyed and second-hand fabric to upcycle an item of your own clothing. Use our eco-friendly fabric to hand sew a mini quilted piece of art all whilst discussing more environmentally friendly ways to show up as a creative.

Over the weeks we will look at different ways to naturally dye and have conversations around repurposing fabric and creating in a more sustainable way. I am a lover of natural dying but I am always drawn to the experimental side of it and this will be my approach through this course, we will be joyfully exploring this topic as opposed to a scientific and more calculated strategy with natural dying. This course will also specifically look at dying cotton fabric as opposed to animal fibres like wool or silk.

Week 1: Introduction to natural dyes, we will discuss mordants and preparing fabric, talk about and look at the equipment needed and have a go at making a dye bath with some natural dye powders. We will talk about ways to divert fabric from landfill or repurpose fabric and how this can add magic to our work.

Week 2: Food waste dye, we will look at fabrics dyed with food waste and discuss ways to store food waste correctly, we will make different dye baths using four main kitchen food wastes and watch as our fabric transforms. We will use an iron mordant to explore how dye baths can be changed in colour, acquiring more varied results.

Week 3: Create applique patches out of fabric to upcycle an item of own clothing. We will look at applique and some basic patchwork and how to use these to upcycle old clothing.

Week 4: Eco printing, we will discuss different plants and the differences between using them dry and fresh, how to correctly forage plants and flowers, and how to dry and store them. We will look at the composition of our prints before making our own and steaming them for some plant magic.

Week 5: Use a collection of second hand/ repurposed fabric and our naturally dyed fabric from the previous weeks to sew a minute hand quilted piece of art.

Tutor Bean-Mhi Berriman is a self-taught illustrator and textile artist currently working as a Youth Arts Worker. She facilitates art and textiles workshops with an emphasis on holding space for conversations around mental health and well-being and leaning into the beauty of everyday life. She strongly believes in art being accessible and most importantly joyful! Her workshops are centred around exploration and intuition as opposed to making things perfectly or following a formula.

Participants must be aged 18+.

Please wear old clothes and/or bring an apron as dying and printing can get messy!

This 5-week course will run on Monday afternoons, starting on 4 November, with the final session on Monday 2 December 2024.

Please ensure that you agree to our updated Terms & Conditions before booking as courses/workshops are non-refundable in some circumstances.

We aim to make all our sessions as accessible as possible and carers/PAs are very welcome – just remember to book their free place when you book your session. If you'd like to talk to us in advance of booking or attending your sessions to discuss your access needs, our Box Office team is here to help! Email arts-centre@le.ac.uk, pop in or call 0116 252 2455, open 7 days a week.

We have four blue badge parking spaces outside Attenborough Arts Centre, plus double yellow line roadside parking very close to the building for blue badge holders for up to three hours if our parking spaces are occupied.

Free parking for all customers is available after 5pm on weekdays and all day at weekends in the University of Leicester car park next door to Attenborough Arts Centre on Lancaster Road. The closest public car park for parking at all other times is Victoria Park, 5-10 minutes walk from us.