Focus on...COLOURWORKS
The Knitter|Issue 172
Natural dyes are at the heart of ColourWork's ethos. Penny Batchelor speaks to Ginette MacDonald about her Lancaster-based yarn-dyeing business
Ginette MacDonald
Focus on...COLOURWORKS

WITH AN educational background in textile design, and a history of making and selling knitted, woven and handspun goods during the late 1980s and early 1990s, it's not surprising that Ginette MacDonald's latest business is a crafty one-woman band. Ginette runs Colour Works, a workshop in The Covered Yard, Lancaster in the north of England. "The Covered Yard is such a lovely place to be; it's one of Lancaster's oldest yards, with four workshops in a row of old stone buildings, says Ginette. “I think they were stables initially - the floor slopes down towards the door, which made it easier to clean out the muck!"

A couple of years ago, Ginette went on a five-day dyeing course, on which she caught the yarn-dyeing bug - and in 2020 ColourWorks was born. She designs colour schemes and selects yarns to dye using natural dyes. It's a creative process. “First the yarn is mordanted in alum if it's wool, which makes colours brighter and more colourfast,” she explains. “While this is heating away, I prepare the dyes. Some dyes need little or no preparation, such as madder extract which I buy as powder and only needs mixing with hot water. Other dyes, such as weld, birch bark and walnut husks, need soaking overnight to extract the colour."

Working with nature

This story is from the Issue 172 edition of The Knitter.

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This story is from the Issue 172 edition of The Knitter.

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