You’ve been asking for naturally dyed thread and we heard you!
These beautiful botanically dyed threads are part of a short term program, so get yours before they’re gone.
Place your order now! Julie@fiberactiveorganics.com
All About Veggie Thread
Veggie Thread starts as our Sewpure, Tex 40 and has been hand-dyed with all natural dyes which include a variety of vegetation as well as food grade iron as you can see from our color chart below. This thread can be used for anything from machine sewing to hand embroidery. Hand dyeing gives it a lovely variation of darks and lights while maintaining a consistent hue.
We begin by unwinding 5000 meter cones of Sewpure Tex 40 into large skeins that are stabilized with ties across their width to keep them from tangling badly during the dye process. It is then scoured so that the cotton receives the color with no impurities. Some of the colors come directly from the garden, some are powders prepared by vegetable dye companies. When the dye pot is ready, the thread goes in.
The dyed skeins are hung out to dry then twisted into beautiful hanks and shipped to our headquarters in Apex, North Carolina where they are painstakingly untangled by hand and wound back onto their original cones. From NC they go for spooling at our warehouse in Connecticut.
More photos are coming soon, but Veggie Thread is ready for sale now! Below is our chart of our 14 earthy colors and the plants and minerals used to achieve them.
Veggie Thread is spooled on recycled cardboard cores that hold 200 meter of thread, . Manufacturers can purchase 2000 meter cones by special order. Dye artist, Kat can custom dye whole skeins to any color you choose from a swatch or Pantone number.
Meet Natural Dyer Kat Quigley
Sewing with Veggie Thread
You can care for thread that has been vegetable dyed like you would any other textile. We always recommend pH neutral detergent and storing your items in the dark when not in use, as some dyes (natural or synthetic) can fade if left in direct sunlight.
Vegetable dyes do give the thread a little different texture because a very slight amount of vegetable matter is still on and between the cotton fibers. You may notice a bit of dust accumulating on your needle where the thread goes through the eye. This is normal. We have also noticed that the dye process adds a bit of strength to the thread. And, different colors have different effects.
The darker colors where indigo and iron are used tend to do what is known as crocking. That means that if you were to rub the spool of thread against a piece of white fabric you might notice a bit of the color on the fabric. When sewing with a single strand you don’t notice the crocking, and the color doesn’t bleed into the fabric, but it might leave a slight dust on the sewing machine if a lot of sewing is done. People who use indigo dyed fabrics are used to this, but it’s important that customers who aren’t used to vegetable dyes understand that this can happen.
For questions or orders email julie@fiberactiveorganics.com