Wander and Stitch

by Charlotte Roberts

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My Latest Adventure: Indie Dyeing!

A brown haired white woman in glasses and a black slip dress holds up a cloud of white undyed fibre
Hi, I’m Charlotte, and I’ve just opened up a whole new world of creativity!

With a cloud-soft bundle of undyed fibre at hand, let me take you behind the scenes of my newest artistic adventure!

What is Indie Dyeing?

Indie dyeing is the art of hand-dyeing yarn or fibre to create small-batch colourways, crafted by independent artists, usually in their home studios – like me!

A contemporary twist on an ancient craft, indie-dyeing focuses on highly creative, unique colourways that cannot be mass-produced or made by machines.

Braids of bright coloured roving for spinning and felting are tossed in a pile on a light slatted wood background
Braids of indie dyed fibre for spinning and felting

Expanding the Palette

While I have been dyeing with natural dyes since 2020, learning ‘how to dye’ and ‘what not to do’ when it comes to working with delicate fibres, natural dyeing is vastly different to dyeing with modern synthetic dyes. Natural dyes are a truly ancient craft, with their own rhythms and rules – I’ll share more on my journey with natural dyes at a later date.

A flat lay of natural dyed yarns and fibre dyed with weld including Haunui wool, mulberry silk, cotton fabric
Natural dyed with Weld, 2024
Dyeing with Indigo in Laos, 2020

Getting Started…

With Jacquard Acid Dyes at hand – the three primary colours: yellow, blue and magenta (plus gunmetal grey for depth), I’m ready to unleash my passion for colour and creativity upon the world in the form of indie dyed fibre and yarn for knitters, spinners, felters and textile artists of all kinds, using hyper-local sourced New Zealand wool from within my region.

With a trusty electric frying pan from an opshop ($10, score!), I threw myself into the unknown and started chucking colours together to see what would come out. And the results were… totally unexpected! With most colours blending together in the water in ways I didn’t fully yet understand. But that’s all part of the intrigue and fun!

My First Collection: March 2026

Behold! My -sold out- first collection of indie-dyed fibre for spinning and felting, featuring locally sourced 100% Corriedale combed top, grown and milled by Tai Tapu Wool Carders.

I’m not much one for words when it comes to describing my creations. I’d like to think the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy! And let me know in the comments which one is your favourite.

Apollo

A coiled up braid of Corriedale wool roving dyed with acid dyes in bright orange, yellow and blue colours rests on a light gray wood background
An electric frying pan with roving dyed with acid dyes in bright orange, yellow and blue colours
A coiled up braid of Corriedale wool roving dyed with acid dyes in bright orange, yellow and blue colours rests on a light gray wood background
A coiled up braid of Corriedale wool roving dyed with acid dyes in bright orange, yellow and blue colours rests on a light gray wood background
A coiled up braid of Corriedale wool roving dyed with acid dyes in bright orange, yellow and blue colours rests on a light gray wood background

Hestia

Selene

Cirice

Nyx

Persephone

Dionysus

Maia

FIN

Hope you enjoyed this quick and somewhat belated introduction to my new endeavour! I have more to come, so stay tuned.

Cheers, Charlotte x

2 responses to “My Latest Adventure: Indie Dyeing!”

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  1. Jacqueline Johnson Avatar
    Jacqueline Johnson

    so fabulous documenting your dye journey! I love your braids 🩷🩷🩷

    Reply
    1. Wander and Stitch Avatar
      Wander and Stitch

      Thanks so much for your kind words Jacqueline! I’m absolutely thrilled that some of the braids from this collection made their way all the way across the world to you :D

      Reply

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