grow + gather

People all across the world have been dyeing fibre naturally for thousands of years, from the Indus Valley to Egypt, Europe and the Americas. 

 

At Perthshire Wool, we celebrate the natural world around us by bringing colour from nature to our wool products. 

 

We source natural dyes that are grown in the UK as well as ethically sourced imported dyes. Our fledgling dye garden here in Perthshire includes woad, madder, weld, and coreopsis amongst other plants that produce a variety of colour. We also gather wild plants from the local countryside, such as nettle, and in accordance with the Woodland Trust's responsible foraging guidelines.    

 

The rhythms of growing and harvesting dyes and dyeing fibre works in harmony with the rhythms of farming life.  As we follow the farming year from autumn, through winter, to spring and then summer (for sheep, the seasons of tupping, maintaining, lambing and rearing, and wool shedding/shearing) the landscape alters as plants and vegetation emerge and retreat according to their own cycles. As the seasons change, so too does our palette. 

 

When wool is dyed using plants, shrubs, minerals and insects, the fabric is 100% compostable. This means that the dyed wool can return to the earth and breakdown naturally without releasing dye toxins into the soil or water. This makes natural dyeing an eco-friendly and sustainable way to bring a variety of colour to our clothes and fabrics. 

 

Natural dyes also offer variability. Dye baths brewed from plants gathered during certain seasons and from plants grown in particular locations differ in colour, making each batch of dyed wool unique.