By Cynthia Blair
In early September, several members of the Special Interest Group “SWAG” (Seattle Wearable Arts Group) gathered at the home of Catherine Knowlson for indigo-dyeing. The dyeing session was the third workshop that Catherine conducted on Shibori, the ancient Japanese stitching-and-dyeing technique that is the forerunner of tie-dye.
At previous meetings in July and August, Catherine taught the group about the various effects that can be achieved with different hand-stitching patterns. After working on their projects both as a group and on their own, SWAG members were able to do the final step: the actual dyeing.
The effects were fabulous, thanks to Catherine’s expertise (and patience). The get-together was also loads of fun, with the group getting to try their hand at something new while enjoying each other’s company—and relishing their spectacular results.
