THE SHILASDAIR STORY
Owners of other shops had meantime visited the shop on Skye and begun to ask for the yarns. The final, logical step was to upgrade the dyeing facility and dye to trade, adding weaving yarns to the range.
​The story took on its own impetus then as she has appeared several times on UK television programmes, lectured in UK and United States, and undertook historical dye commissions for public exhibitions such as that of the Great Bed of Ware coverlet in the Millenium Exhibition, Victoria and Albert museum.
Eva in the 90's
​Our personal inspiration, Eva, started her textile career as a tapestry weaver. Inspired herself by the intense but subtle colours of the Highland landscape and by a historic legacy of Scottish natural dyeing which once utilized such locally available plants as tansy, woad, lichens and lady's bedstraw Eva began natural dyeing by hand in the 70's for her own use in weaving.
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​The principle remains the same, for natural dyes are still extracted by hand as can be seen in the tansy pics below, but now they are pumped through to yarns waiting in steam heated dye cabinets, allowing for 20 kg instead of 2 kg to be dyed at once. Compared to industrial scale production, this is still a small, hands-on, creative dye method. Colours can be changed and modified and subtle new colours produced when required. Most importantly, the characteristic intense and beautiful variation is the same as it was in the 1970's. So - join the story now!
"The principle remains the same, for natural dyes are still extracted by hand as can be seen in the tansy pics below, but now they are pumped through to yarns waiting in steam heated dye cabinets, allowing for 20 kg instead of 2 kg to be dyed at once."
Eva in 2000
THE SHILASDAIR STORY
Eva in the 70's
Eva bypassed the old, smelly woad recipes - which required liberal macerations with urine - and fragile lichen and other local plant ecosystems for cultivated natural dyes, though common and easily grown tansy remained a favourite.
She had no thought beyond her weaving requirements, but knitter friends saw this subtle variation and the vibrant beauty of natural dyed yarns, and began asking her to dye for them. By the 90's Eva was hand dyeing full time and had her own shop on the magical Isle of Skye.
BOOKS BY EVA LAMBERT
The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing
Written by Eva Lambert and Tracy Kendall
The Complete Guide to Natural Dyeing includes comprehensive lists for measuring, weighing, and dyeing and step-by-step sequences to explain techniques for collecting and preparing dyestuff, color matching, and methods for both solid and semi-solid dyeing. You will also learn how different natural dyes will affect the colors obtained on various mediums, how to mix dye baths for original results, and more.
