Some years ago a friend of mine was going through treatment for cancer. She was looking really fragile and I wanted to wrap her up in goodness. I wanted to make something for her that was infused with my love and the healing power of nature. I wanted her to be able to wrap this love around her and feel held by me, and by the natural world.
So I got some beautiful merino wool fabric, and I went into the garden and picked lots of calendula flowers to add them to a vat of natural calendula dye I had from the Indian collective I was collaborating with to make herbally infused bed linen (another story for another day) and, after preparing the wool fibre with a mordant, I gently dyed it with the calendula flowers.
I also got some raw silk thread and and dyed it with madder root.
And then I stitched, and stitiched, each stitch a breath, a love note whispering in my friend's ear.
Each stitch a breath, a love note whispering in my friend's ear.
She loved that merino wrap and all its natural goodness and botanical magic. She loved that the stitching wasn't perfect because she said that she could feel the love in it.
A few days ago I was weighing and measuring and packing more calendula plant dye from my friends in India, and it was as if she was there with me. I recalled her laughter. And the good times. I felt wrapped up in her love and held by the natural world.
This is what working with natural materials can do for us. They help make the world more beautiful.
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