Journal

  • Makers Who Inspire Me: Honeysuckle and Hilda's Eco-Friendly Floral Work

      Like a lot of people, I quite often find social media exasperating and honestly, frequently depressing. This blog series was inspired by the ide...
  • Makers Who Inspire Me: Claire Orth's Heirloom Embrodieries

    I haven't actually yet had the pleasure of meeting Claire in person - I'd like to think the word yet is important here. She has been buying some o...
  • Makers Who Inspire Me: Kate Paulin's Felted Creations

      I met Kate through her husband Tilman, with whom I once worked at LAIKA Animation. They kindly took me on a favourite hike in Wellington, New Ze...
  • Why should I care about natural dye?

    Today most artificial colour is derived from petrochemicals, with the obvious disadvantages to the environment that using products derived from oil continues to bring. The garment industry in particular is one of the most polluting in the world today, pouring untreated chemicals and dyes into waterways in Bangladesh, Pakistan and China, where many of our clothes and textiles in the west are made.
  • How To Estimate Ribbon For Invitations

    Wondering how much ribbon or twine you will need to tie your invitations? Here's a quick explanation.
  • Natural Dye in the News

     "It's the visual equivalent of a peach ripened by the tree, or a tomato baked in sunshine. Some lost part of you recognises that this is how it's...
  • Wooden Spools, now available in the shop!

    I started making my own spools when I began to market my ribbons and couldn't find spools that met my criteria: they needed to have a simple, moder...
  • Partnering with Ridwell to recycle plastic packaging.

    I'm pretty excited about this! As you may know, I'm committed that Nettle + Silk be as eco-friendly as possible. All of my fabrics and dyes are tot...
  • Dip-Dyed Dress

    Adventures in collaborative natural dye and dressmaking!
  • Our Wedding Is Postponed!

      Guest Post by Valentina Ring, Owner, Head Planner, & Creative Producer at The Stars Inside As this unprecedented situation ...
  • Warm Cognac Tones and a Scandi Vibe

    At Portland's new Scandi-modern Hotel Kex, a warm colour palette, modern florals and a grey silk gown to die for.                   As ever,...
  • How To Tie An Invitation Wrap

        I often get asked for help with estimating ribbon length for invitation ties (and you can find a little tutorial on that here). I thought it m...