A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers [Paperback]

Rita Buchanan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 1999

Valuable hints from a veteran botanist and weaver on dyeing fibers and fabrics, what soap plants to use for cleaning textiles, advice on fragrant plants to scent and protect fabrics, plant materials to use as tools, suggestions for planning and creating a garden featuring cotton, flax, indigo, and much more. Includes an abundance of illustrations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (May 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486407128
• ISBN-13: 978-0486407128
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very useful book for learning, July 8, 2009

By 

Meghan E. Pietila - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers (Paperback)

This is my first year dying with plants, and I checked this book (along with several others) out of our local library over the winter so I could prepare for the short growing season. This is the only one I went out and purchased so I could have a copy on hand. I'm trying to focus on plants I have growing in my own yard, and Rita's book is extremely helpful when I'm trying to figure out what to do with an uncommon dyeplant - for instance, she has a page where she talks about dyeing with pokeberries, but extrapolates from that to give some general rules that should work for dyeing with almost all berries - helped me when I tried to dye using buckthorn berries, mulberries, and cherries. I've since bought several other dye books, but if I could only choose one to have on hand, it would be this one (or her companion book, A Dyer's Garden - but I loved the information on fiber plants that this book had).

28 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, September 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers (Paperback)

I am a fanatic when it comes to dyeing and weaving my own yarn. I really enjoyed this book's dyeing techniques and the methods of extracting natural dyes from their sources. This book is great when it comes to teahing other people about hoow to make their own dyes. I even got my son into dyeing whit natural methods, my son is 14 and usually hates to take any of my advice. This showshow great this book really is!!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not enough depth for a big subject, July 19, 2010

By 

J. Henningson (Berne, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers (Paperback)

Having used a borrowed copy of Buchanan's Dyer's Garden book, I thought this would contain much of the text from that book PLUS info on growing bast plants. I was wrong. This is an ok introduction to a very large topic, but it does not have the same level of detail. If natural dyes are your primary interest, skip this book and buy A Dyer's Garden instead.