Botanical Indigo Cotton Fabric, Inky Blue

I have been looking for years to find a source of botanical (natural plant)  indigo cloth hand dyed by dyers with enough experience to produce well fixed dye and clean shades of blue. I cannot be sure how long my source will stay available to me, but for now I have succeeded in buying 50 meters.

This is 100% cotton cloth, hand dyed in short lengths using botanical (plant) indigo dye vats and multiple dippings. You can see little white marks in the edge of the selvedge where the yardage was hung up on a moveable rod for the repeated dipping and oxidising between dips. 

This inky blue shade is very dark, approximately  the colour of new dark blue jeans.

This cloth is expensive because indigo dying is hard physical work in the dying process, and then when I get it I still have to process it further. The dyers send it oxidised but not washed from the vats, allowing the most possible time for the colour to fix in the fibre. It still smelled quite 'musty' from the plant dye when I opened it!

I have aired and washed it thoroughly before wrapping it on bolts. This process proved the dye colour to be firmly fixed, reduced the plant oder (you may smell some at first opening it but it will dissipate soon), and softened the cloth.

 The colour did not fade.  It will over time, as it should, that particular kind of fade down is one big reason we value botanical indigo, but it will not rub off on other cloth like poorly done indigo dye fabrics you may have encountered.

• The fabric is 44" wide
• It is not ironed or starched so it feels different than factory produced cloth. You can iron it smooth if you want that finish. 
• It is an even weave good quality cotton. 
• The lighter colours are quite soft, but get less so as the shade gets darker. This is caused by the amount of indigo being held in the fibres.
• I have washed it enough to soften it but if you want it to be softer wash it some more. You can machine wash with a green product detergent.
• The point of natural indigo for modern users is the way indigo gets more beautiful over time as it fades down. This has to do with the way the dye bonds to the cloth.
• Obviously this is an exceptional fabric for your sashiko stitching but you can use it for other projects.

To order the amount you want:

Available in 10" increments. The fabric is 42" wide. Put 1 in the order amount box for every 10" in length you want. (For example: if you put  putting 2 in the order amount box you will receive 20" length by 42" width) However much you order, your fabric will be send to you in one uncut length.