Fire up the Dye Pots & Play with Color at Billings Backyard Hand-Dyed Yarn Workshop

Add unique charm to natural yarn for your next home fiber arts project at Billings Farm & Museum.  The upcoming installment of the Billings Backyard Series will feature Hand-Dyed Yarn with Tiana St. James on Saturday, July 9, 10AM – 11:30AM, followed by a 30-minute Q&A.   

This fun, hands-on workshop will investigate an array of dyeing techniques.  Using yarn spun from the wool of Billings Farm Southdown Sheep, this class will explore dyeing methods with weak acid, natural dyes, and even kool-aid dyes.  Through the combination of heat and the chemical reactions between the dyeing agent and woolen fibers, participants will watch the yarn transform with beautiful colors.  Each participant will leave the workshop with practical skills for home dyeing projects and three hand-dyed “mini-skeins” of yarn to use in their own creations.   

Upper Valley Native Tiana St. James has been an Interpreter at Billings Farm & Museum for seven years. A passion for history and learning along with a love of knitting and crochet, led her to discover her fascinating world of fiber arts from all stages of the wool and flax to linen processes. Through her association with the Aker Fiber Farm in Enfield, NH, she has developed and taught classes on a wide variety of textile crafts.   

Billings Backyard is a series of workshops designed to teach sustainable living skills to adult participants and is underwritten by a generous grant from the SpringRiver Private Foundation Trust.  Each workshop includes hands-on demonstrations and concrete steps for incorporating these skills into everyday life.  All sessions are $15/person, $10/member. Registration and course details are at billingsfarm.org/billings-backyard/