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

by Rita Buchanan and Steve Buchanan

Book Overview

Long before the invention of pottery, men and women wove baskets from plant fibers. Today, craftworkers creating textiles and other products make use of many of these same resources and methods. Thoroughly researched and charmingly written, this practical guide by a veteran botanist and horticulturist provides weavers and gardeners alike with a wealth of information on growing plants for use in weaving and dyeing projects. Beginning with the history...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486407128
• ISBN13: 9780486407128
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Good overview and practical advice

A splendid resource book, covering plants used for textile fibers, to natural soaps, to natural dyes and dyeing, to planning and planting your weaver's or dyer's garden. As a weaver and dyer, I can attest to both the practicality of the deeper-than-surface overview information given both on plants and propagation, natural dyes, and applaud the excellent examples shown in color photos and b & w botanical illustrations throughout. Well indexed, with resource listings of plant and seed suppliers and seed exchanges, as well as an extensive glossary. Too bad to see it remaindered; a copy should be in every weaver's guild library.

Good for Daydreaming

I like this book's concept; taking a "whole" task like weaving and doing a "how-to" book for making it an integral part of one's life. I don't weave, don't know how to weave, but I have applied the idea of this book to making bread from "scratch" (grew the wheat, evaporated the salt from sea water, collected wild yeast from the air, etc.). There are so many "old" trades and ways of doing things that have disappeared and I love reading about them; people who do them, how to do them, how they're "organized," etcetera.

Nice overview of weaving related plants

Describes plants used for fiber, dyes, soap, scent, and weaving tools, as well as how to grow them in the garden. I especially like the chapter on soap plants, as that information is hard to find in other books.