Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear: From Seed to Style the Sustainable Way

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Discover the endless benefits of swapping food waste and fast fashion for homegrown produce, delicious vegan dishes alongside a contemporary yet environmentally-friendly wardrobe with the help of fashion designer, dressmaker and author Bella Gonshorovitz. Natural dye specialist Babs Behan laughs when asked about her favourite natural dye plant. "Like people, they all have such a beautiful variety of different characteristics," she says. "But, if I had to choose one, indigo stands out. It's not like any other dye. It's not water soluble – so you have to go through this charming, alchemical, almost mystical process, to make it bond with the fibre. Then you take the fabric out of the water and you'll see it turn from green to blue as it oxidises. There's something so special about that because it's the colour of our planet. It's the colour of the sky and the sea – and we can't capture it from anywhere except from this one indigo pigment." Introducing Grow, Cook, Dye, Wear– a fully-illustrated guide that explains how to follow a completely sustainable approach to both food and fashion, by combining the two to achieve self-sufficiency in style! Bella: I’ve been vegan for 14 years now. There’s been such a shift in attitudes towards veganism. Now, it's something that people are keen to experiment with, which is fantastic. Who’s the author? Bella Gonshorovitz is a prize-winning fashion designer and dressmaker who has worked with Alexander Wang and Gucci. A long-time vegan, Bella is passionate about growing her own food and reducing waste. Her cooking is influenced by the principles of sustainability as well as by the flavours of her Tel Aviv childhood.

From sowing to sewing, Bella guides you with engaging stories, easy-to-follow instructions, step-by-step illustrations, and full-scale pattern sheets, as well as: The challenge – and the joy – of plant dyeing is to learn it well. "There is a lot of diversity among contemporary natural dyers, but what unites us is a love of colour and a taste for alchemy," reflects Susan Dye. "Using a pile of unremarkable dried weld leaves to create a hank of electric-yellow yarn never ceases to give me a thrill. Dyeing requires a satisfying attention to both science and art. Whether consciously or not, successful natural dyers are masters of chemistry and biology. We learn how to extract dye molecules from plants and bind them to fibres. And in all kinds of processes, it's important to control temperature, alkalinity, acidity." A fully illustrated, practical e-guide that explains how to follow a sustainable approach to food and fashionTurn lightweight fabric into decorative bunting – make a triangular card template, 16cm for the top and 22cm for the sides, draw round it onto scraps of fabric, cut them out and sew the short edges at intervals along a piece of bias binding or ribbon. That’s why I spent a long time on the sewing illustrations. If you don’t know how to sew at all, it’s probably not the best place to start, but if you have some experience, the onion dress is probably the easiest project. And the wonderful thing about natural dye is that, if you do have an old cloth that is imbued with memory and some stains, the dye works quite well with it. Bella: I had the title ‘Grow, Cook, Dye’ in my head and thought ‘what am I going to do with it?’ I was growing vegetables in my allotment and working with natural dyes. And, at the same time, I started making artwork with a client of mine, an artist called Cathie Pilkington. And I just started connecting the dots between growing things and cooking things and dyeing clothing. Stretchy cotton clothing cut into thin strips is great to use in the garden instead of twine or wire. Live sustainably with style - grow fruits and vegetables, cook them, create natural dyes, then make your own clothes with five full-size pattern sheets.

We have to reconsider our relationship with clothes. Through fast fashion we are bombarded with clothes and they have become disposable. The common phenomena now is that people wear things once and then throw it away, particularly in the UK. I find that baffling. If you went through the journey of making the garment, you would never throw it – you would mend it, pass it along to family and friends, it becomes a part of you and you become a part of it.I encourage readers to approach the book at their own pace. Maybe you’ll just grow onions and make recipes, maybe you’ll save skins from store bought onions when you cook the recipes and dye fabrics or maybe you’ll just upcycle fabric and make your own dress using the patterns. The whole process is slow in itself. You start with the onion, perhaps in spring and harvest in autumn, cook with it, collect enough skins to dye the fabric and make the dress over winter so it’s ready to wear next spring. AS: What is the circular economy of soil? Transform your fabrics into five exclusively designed, essential pieces of clothing, including a shirt dress and duster coat