This is a little pink button sampler I made the other day, I was quite excited by it because I was using hand dyed silk, silks and cottons This fabric and threads I had dyed myself using plant material. The picture to the left shows the sampler before it was stretched for framing and you can see the little hearts clearly, they are silk and were dyed with blackberries from the hedgerow. I have tried blackberries several times and not had much luck, giving a lack lustre colour. Yet when I am making crumbles and pies they stain my tea towels a lovely colour! So I tried adding some sugar and I am pleased with the result. Amazingly the sugar worked, I have no idea why but there you go. A pound and a half of blackberries and about three heaped teaspoons of sugar on alum mordanted silk gave this result. You need to reduce the blackberries for about an hour to get a good thick liqueur. The warm greys on the the sampler were achieved with alkanet onto alum mordanted silk thread and cotton thread. This was alkanet I had bought but was very happy with the result, its a lovely warm grey and I think it sits well with the blackberry pink. I have just bought some undyed silk threads from Oliver Twists, a really great hand dyer, their stuff is beautiful and well worth the money. I am going to have a go at some more colours and see how I go, I love the hues of the organic dyes they are so subtle and easy on the eye. 
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