Our Eri Silk Embroidery Threads are among our most popular items. The organic Eri silk is raised and spun by indigenous communities in Jharkhand, India as part of a local economic initiative. The beautiful, harmonious colours are all dyed using natural dyes in our closed loop dyeing system. The stranded threads are smooth and easy to work with - you can choose to stitch with a single strand or all 8 strands, making them ideal for blending - and your embroidery will be lustrous, not shiny, giving a very contemporary look to your stitching.
Botanica Tinctoria recently sponsored the wonderfully talented young designer Eloise Ptito-Echeverria. Eloise, who has a background in Fine Arts and is now in her third year studying Fashion, has been exploring her cultural roots through the traditional "huipil" blouse, worn by women throughout South America. She says, "the huipil is an extraordinary silhouette and textile canvas for me to express myself with and to branch off from creatively." Using our Eri Silk embroidery threads, Eloise has hand stitched lyrics from artist Lido Pimienta's song, "Mueve", a work she finds deeply inspiring, "Only your soul will save you."
Once again, Botanica Tinctoria will be showing at the Future Fabrics Expo in London, UK, Sept. 29-30. The Expo is a wonderful place to see all the newest in sustainable materials from around the world. If you live in London, stop by to see our trims and threads in person!
Botanica Tinctoria was recently contacted by Naina Bajara who is doing research towards her Master's degree in Ethnobotany and wanted to find out more about how we produce our beautiful natural dye colours! Many thanks to Naina for her thoughtful article - you can read it here:
http://www.noserialnumber.com/botanica-tinctoria
We're delighted to be featured on the Fashion Takes Action blog in "Behind the Seams"! Find the interview here: http://fashiontakesaction.com/behind-the-seams-with-botanica-tinctoria/
Botanica Tinctoria will be at City of Craft on Saturday, April 18th - please do stop by and visit! We'll have the full range of materials available for sale.
Many thanks to Vera for her mention of Botanica Tinctoria on her blog "Style Diaries"!
Vera is the author of "Scraps; Stylish Fabric Crafts to Stitch" and you can see some of her great ideas here: http://craftgawker.com/post/archive/vera-vandenbosch/
Some new materials have arrived! We now have a beautiful Eri Silk 8-strand embroidery thread in stock, available in all 14 colours. This organic "peace" silk is grown in Jharkhand, Northern India and is spun without killing the silkworm. Village women raise the cocoons and process the silk in a Fair Trade income generation project.
It is lovely and smooth to work with and creates a subtly lustrous surface.
Another new arrival is an organic cotton hand crocheted lace made with the Godavari Delta Women's Lace Co-operative, a Fair Trade certified enterprise in Eastern India. There are five historic lace designs, each available in five colours: Madder Red, Mid Indigo, Ochre, Olive and Madder Rose. Co-ordinating beautifully with our Voile fabrics, each 3 m. lengths is enough to trim a simple top.
