How can you Resist it!

Silkpaint Water-Soluble Resist offers the textile artist a variety of options for patterning their fabrics or paper.

It can be diluted with water or dyes and used as an outliner in silk painting or it can be used as a thickener for printing and painting with dyes. It can be used to inhibit the flow of paint on treated fabrics by diluting it to 1 part resist and 3 parts water or it can be stenciled or screen printed to create batik effects. Steam, heat set or fix dyes according to manufacturers instructions, machine wash on delicate cycle and iron while damp. We recommend you create test pieces prior to starting a project. See more...

These rollers are ideal for using with the resist. They can make light work of creating borders or patterns. Click here to see these items on our web site

Now we have it...

make the most of it! The glorious sunshine we've been having is perfect for experimenting with Heliographic printing.

This decorative technique is simple and effective. It depends on direct light from the sun or a bright artificial light to fix the colour in the exposed areas - leaving the dye to vanish from the shaded areas!


Enjoy sitting in the sun waiting for the magical reversed-print transformation, your children will love it too. For best results, use Pébéo Setacolor Soleil fabric paints which work effectively for this method. Find out more...

Dispersed Dyes and Paints

With such a diverse range of textile related products we often wonder what happens to them and how they are used once they leave FIBRECRAFTS for homes, workshops and classrooms.

We try to offer you first-hand advice and usage instructions for all the products and most of them have been used or experimented with by the staff. But just how many different ways can you apply paints and dyes? And who are we to tell you how to use them!

The Embroidery magazine gives us some clues. Their feature 'Transfer Printing on Textiles' from the January/February issue names us as a supplier for transfer paint and disperse dyes and ideas of how to use them are also offered.

We're delighted to see the samples of printed work by designers Barbara Massey and Helen Rogers. Their fine work certainly shows the potential of the transfer paints.

The outstanding publication, Embroidery is available through the Embroiderers' Guild web site and features articles and reviews on the textile arts.

Natural Dyeing with Fibrecrafts

We've been delightfully busy here at Fibrecrafts and are pleased and surprised at the success of our Christmas offers. We've noted a particular demand for the Natural Dye Kit which we feature here.


The Fibrecrafts Natural Dye Kit includes a selection of natural dyes and mordants to enable the beginner to experiment with and gain a greater understanding of how natural dyes bond to fibres. Using the contents in various combinations (and keeping notes of the recipes developed!) the dyer can then dye the 100gm ball of wool yarn before knitting it into the simple hat pattern supplied.

If you become hooked on the craft, Fibrecrafts offers an extensive range of natural dyes to discover. You can learn how to extract the deep red from the dried cochineal beetle, the regal purple from Logwood Chips and the deepest of blue from Indigo!

The Book Shop contains a wealth of literature on the subject of dyes and how to use them, and a book is often the best resource for learning.

You can save 5% on this excellent starter kit, and up to 10% on other starter kits, right up until 20th December - ideal presents, delivered in time for Christmas.

Click here to see what's on offer!

FIBRES: A 'Casein' Point - Milk Protein Tried & Tested

Sorry for the pun (we heard you groan)! Anne Cook has kindly sent us this pic of her Milk Protein (Casein) yarn which she dyed in skein using acid dyes.


When she saw it, Susan Litton decided to dye some of the fibre herself (see below). It takes the acid dyes very well, has a good sheen and a lovely soft handle