Indigo dye is cropping up all over our handcrafting travels at the moment. Particularly the japanese shibori technique of creating patterns by restricting the flow of the dye to some parts of the fabric. Interested in creating a bohemian look for a dinner party, we recently spent an afternoon in the garden playing with indigo dye, trying out various shibori techniques and dipping anything we could get our hands on. I have to admit to finding our results really quite beautiful. Today we are sharing our dip-dyed DIY indigo table linens, made using a natural cotton fabric as a table cloth and napkins. My first tip when you use indigo dye would be to do it outdoors and wear old clothes. It’s a messy process and you don’t want any stray drips of dye ruining your floors or favorite tee shirt – so approach it as you would a painting project and protect the things you love. My second tip is to have a clothes line to hang your pieces as they come out of the dye so they will have space to oxidize. You will see that it comes out of the dye as green and slowly turns blue. My third tip is to feel free to re-dip some of your pieces. We did this with our linens to add a darker tone of blue to the edges. When it comes to using indigo dyes at home there are currently lots of kits you can buy in your local craft store or online – we used one from Jaquard which worked out really well. Most kits come with simple instructions to follow making this a really simple, fun craft to have a go at. What I will say is to be bold. Try folding your fabric in unusual ways. Try binding with rubber bands and twine in horizontal and vertical lines to create geometric patterns. You might even want to try on scraps of old fabrics before you commit to your gorgeous linens. If you decide to give it a go, we would love to see pictures of the process and of your finished results. Share with us in the comments section below or across our social platforms, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Stay tuned for our details on how we made the boho chandelier and for more of our shibori projects that we will be sharing next week. Enjoy! ~ Lia