Natural Dye Workshops A Success!
/This past summer, the Mill Museum embarked on a challenging project: to facilitate a series of 17 free natural dye workshops across multiple organizations in Winooski and Burlington. This art-based community building project was built on the success of our Stitch Together program in partnership with AALV, Association of African’s Living in Vermont.
The idea for the Natural Dye project was formed during one of our knitting workshops in the summer of 2024. A few of the East African Refugee women who regularly attend the knitting program were absent so that they could tend their garden plots at NFNA (New Farms For New Americans) an agricultural program that provides Refugees with land and resources to grow their own food. KeruBo, the AALV Women’s Group program director, suggested we find a way to offer the Stitch Together workshops at the farm! Eventually, we came up with the idea of using farm resources and support to provide natural dye workshops.
Conversations with Alisha Laramee, NFNA Program Director, led us to find the perfect collaborators: Jackie Reno, a natural dye fiber artist and educator and Carolina Lucak, Co-Executive Director of Programs and Partnerships at Vermont Garden Network. A plan was hatched for Jackie to teach natural dye workshops with key community partners: AALV, the Winooski summer school, the Winooski Senior Center, and the Janet S. Munt Family Room. Carolina cheerfully agreed to support the efforts by growing indigo in plots at NFNA and the Family Room’s garden located at the Winooski Valley Community Garden. Thanks to funding from the VT Community Foundation’s Art and Social Cohesion Grant, we were able to make this project idea into a reality!
Throughout the summer, we held 3 to 4 workshops for each participating group. In each workshop, we experimented with different plants such as indigo, marigold, chamomile, and madder, to dye wool yarn and silk scarves.
The women in our Stitch Together group were able to dye 20 skeins of natural wool yarn that had been gifted to the group last year by Billings Farm. This fall, they are now using the colorful yarn to knit small handbags!
In addition to dying, all the groups had fun trying out a flower printing method called hapa zome or flower pounding. Freshly picked flowers were pounded on silk or cotton bandanas to create colorful prints. We also provided flower pounding drop-in workshops for the public at the Winooski Memorial Library, Fanny’s Weekend at the Homestead Museum, and the Winooski Fiber Fair.
The Natural Dye workshops ended with a celebration at the Winooski Fiber Fair on August 31st, where dozens of colorful dyed scarves from the summer workshops were displayed on garden trellises for all to see. During the Fair, folks could stop by our tent to try dying silk scarves with freshly picked indigo leaves.
Giving the community access to learning about textiles in a hands-on way was truly rewarding! This program was an engaging activity for both adults and children to connect and reflect on our manufacturing history. Everyone who participated now has a deeper appreciation for how clothing is dyed and the wide range of colors that can be found in our natural world!
Fiber Fair, August 31, 2025, Left to Right: Carolina Lucak ( VT Garden Network), Elin Melchior (Stitch Together knit instructor), Jackie Reno (Natural Dye Teaching Artist), Emory Gerlach (Mill Museum Intern)
4th grade student at the Winooski Summer school with natural dyed scarf.
Stitch Together participant trying out flower Pounding .
Group of children from the Janet S. Munt Family Room dying Silk with Fresh picked Indigo Leaves.
Winooski Senior Center workshop participants pose under Trellis at the Winooski Fiber Fair
