A Weekend to Dye For 2025
June 27-29, 2025
We enjoyed the 2024 "Weekend to Dye For" (#Wkend2Dye4) and we had such GREAT feedback, we have decided to host one again in 2025.
The weekend is June 27-29, 2025; a little later than last year so it does not conflict with Father's Day and before the summer really kicks off. We now have a fabulous list of workshops to share with you and Registration is now live! Participants will be able to camp on-site and enjoy the ambiance of our farm and the atmosphere of the event.
For updates on the event, please check out our “Weekend to Dye For - 2nd Annual: " Fun, Fibre, Farm, Fellowship" event on facebook.
Learn to Natural Dye
Jamie Lynn Bowen
10:00 am - 3:00 pm, June 27, 2025 (Friday)
In this workshop, participants will introduce how to dye with flowers, bugs and barks. The following “Hows” will be covered:
To prepare fabrics for natural dying (scouring and mordanting fibres)
To grow and foraging natural materials
To prepare a dye bath
To dye different types of fibres
To dye a skein of yarn
To botanically print a cotton bandana
To finish your fibres and how to care for your dyed items.
This class will be a combination of lecture / discussion and hands on. Students will leave with a skein of their own naturally dyed local wool yarn and an organic cotton botanically dyed bandana.
Note: Participants should bring an apron and a N90 mask.
Register
Jamie Lynn Bowen
Jamie Lynn Bowen is a fibre and textile artist who recently relocated to the North Coast of British Columbia. She has spent most of her life living in the concrete confines of City life and is now spending her time exploring the forest while researching the plant and fungi world for use in her natural dye practice. She uses local wools, natural fibres and local dyes to create her art through needle felting, stitch, knitting, and weaving. Her creative life extends to her small business, The General Bean, designing needle felting kits and her non profit practice where she and her partner create opportunities for artists to show their work and connect with local community members. She strives to live a creative life that leaves a small footprint on our planet and shares her passion for the arts through workshops and connecting with her community. Welcome to Moose Meadows Farm Jamie Lynn. We are so happy you too were able to join us!
Needle Felted Soap
Gloria McDonald
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm, June 27, 2025 (Friday)
We are thrilled to be joined by Gloria of SharGloMa Soapworks again. Gloria will lead this workshop on how to needle felt designs on her beautiful hand created soaps. Gloria will provide 2 felted soaps and all the materials needed to complete the designs on the soaps. This is deviation from last year’s workshop where the participants also wet felted the soaps. By having the soaps pre-felted, participants will have more time to be creative and work on their designs.
Register
Gloria McDonald
We are thrilled to be joined by Gloria McDonald of SharGloMa Soapworks for the 2nd year. Gloria and hubby Randy live in Redbluff (south of Quesnel) with Gloria being the mad scientist behind the soap while Randy looks after logistics such as wrangling the ingredients and ensuring supplies are kept on hand. Gloria has been making soap since the 1990’s and can be found at the Quesnel Farmers Market on the weekend during market season along with at home where she and Randy offer workshops. Her soaps are also available at the Bouchie Lake Country Store (attached to Moose Meadows Farm).
Needle Felted Butterflies & Moths
Terri Smith
9:30 am - 12:30 noon, June 28, 2025 (Saturday)
Join Terri of Something Magical as we go on a journey into the magical world of Lepidoptera: butterflies and moths. Terri has found that these insects' wings are perfect for felting, for they already look as though they are made of fibres! In this class participants will learn some of the basics of needle felting: how to create shapes, and how to ‘paint with wool’ to decorate the wings. Finished moths or butterflies can be sewn onto a brooch pin in class, and I will also discuss other methods of display (e.g. a shadow box frame).
Everything needed for this project is provided and students will get to keep all of their tools and supplies (conveniently stored in one of my pretty book boxes) as well as some extra wool if they would like to continue felting at home.
Participants can choose which butterfly or moth they would like to make. Terri will have wing templates, images, and wool colours for a few local species of butterflies (Swallowtails, Admirals, Fritillaries) and moths (Polyphenus, Tiger, Cecropia) in addition to some beloved species not (usually) found in British Columbia (Luna and Death’s Head moths and Monarch and Blue Morpho butterflies) as well as a few different antennae options. Participants are also welcome to create a different moth or butterfly of their choice, or even one purely from their imagination.
Note: Please any favourite moth or butterfly photos if you wish.
Register
Terri Smith
Also joining us for a second year at “A Weekend to Dye For” but the 4th Workshop at Moose Meadows Farm is Terri of Something Magical. Terri first tried needle felting 15 years ago. Her curiosity about felting developed into an extensive fibre obsession about 10 years ago. She has been teaching felting workshops for more than 7 years now, and makes her living as an artist, instructor, and purveyor of wool and felting supplies for just over 3 years. Terri has a diploma in Studio Art from Capilano University.
Terri enjoys creating in many different mediums but felting is her very favourite way to create. She loves everything about it! It is so versatile, so sculptural, so natural, so beautiful! She loves the immediacy of it. There is not a lot of set-up required and one can felt just about anywhere! She loves the feel of the fibres, the beautiful colours and textures, the possibilities and the challenges, and the fact that there is always something new to learn and discover!
She also loves to teach others about the wonders of wool and to be able to help encourage creativity, because she truly believe that we are happiest when we can be creative.
Terri’s inspiration mostly comes from the natural world and from fairy tales, myths and legends. When she decides on a project to teach or make into a kit, she researches both the folklore and the science around it and then shares what she has learnt with those in the class. My workshops tend to become a combination of art class, history, and natural history lesson. And we also laugh a lot!
Terri arrives at all the workshops she facilitates with several older style suitcases and so much creativity just as Mary Poppins did!
Surface Design on Fabric with Natural Dyes
Lorelei Sommer
12:30 pm - 4:30 pm, June 28, 2025 (Saturday)
In this class you’ll learn how to make natural dye pastes to stamp, stencil, or paint onto fabric for permanent and colourful designs! We’ll work with natural dyes such as cochineal, madder, lac, and weld to create patterns on fabric using a variety of ready-made wood block stamps or stencils. The dye paste can also be painted/stenciled on your fabric, or materials for making your own basic stamps will be provided.
Note: Participants should bring an apron and a N95 type mask
Register
Lorelei Sommer
This is Lorelei’s first time joining us for “A Weekend to Dye For” and we are simply so pleased she has travelled from Victoria, BC to share her knowledge and creativity. For her bio, these are her words exactly:
I have had a lifelong relationship with textiles that began with hand sewing and quickly led to embroidery, knitting, machine sewing, and more recently crochet, spinning, dyeing, and rug hooking. I am a graduate of the Olds College Master Spinner program (2020) and have been exploring the world of dyes since 2013.
My exploration of dyeing has included acid dyes, fibre reactive dyes, and natural dyes on yarn, fabric, and garments using a variety of techniques from shibori to botanical printing. I have a particular fondness for indigo and frequently have multiple vats in use. My love of plants and dyes combine in my garden in Victoria, BC where I expand my knowledge of natural dyeing from the ground up.
Beginner Crochet
Charmaine Lucier
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm, June 28, 2025 (Saturday)
Join Charmaine on a journey that will lead participants through the following: on how to read a Crochet pattern; how to know what tools you will need for your project; and what is yarn type and yarn weight. Attendees will also learn the two basic stitches that you find as a foundation to begin many projects (ie. Scarves, dishcloths, blankets, table runners etc). For this workshop, we will be starting a cotton dishcloth.
Register
Charmaine Lucier
Charmaine is the creator of Crochet2Play and is a a home-based creator of one of a kind, unique and durable toys to spark imagination and sensory play. Inspired by Charmaine’s grandchildren to reduce footprint. This will be Charmaine’s first time joining us for “A Weekend to Dye For” and she will be sharing her love of fibre arts by teaching a Beginner Crochet Workshop.
Introduction to Botanical Printing
Lorelei Sommer
9:30am - 12:30pm, June 29, 2025 (Sunday)
If you’ve ever wondered how to capture prints of plants on textiles, participants will explore the process of botanical/ecoprinting in this workshop with Lorelei. Participants will learn how to prepare paper and fabric to permanently "print" leaves and other plant material onto natural fibres. We’ll also explore suitable plant and flowers for use, and discuss options for adding additional colour with natural dyes.
Note: Participants should bring an apron, medical gloves, and a small number of leaves and flowers for printing. Suggestions will be provided.
Register
Weaving on an Embroidery Hoop
Jamie Lynn Bowen
1:30 pm- 3:30 pm, June 29, 2025 (Sunday)
Learn the basics of weaving while weaving a piece of art in an embroidery hoop. We will learn three different stitched and how to warp your embroidery hoop. Experiment with different forms of fibre.