join the
regenerative clothing pioneers
Are you Ā ready to GROW a better future for fashion?
PeopleĀ have been growing and makingĀ their own clothes for at least 20,000 years. We became reliant upon ecocidal fashion corporationsĀ less than 200 years ago.
But now is an exciting time, ripe with the potential of a more equitable, beautiful future! Our heritage textile plants and the matrilineal skills that transform them from seed to cloth,Ā are returningĀ to remind us how to liveĀ in harmony with our environment and each other.Ā
All the technology and science in the world can't do what these plant wisdom keepers can - anchor people back into the reality of how precious planetary materials and human labour are.Ā
š± I'm ready to grow slow textiles! š±"We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon and we got to get ourselves back to the garden."
- Joni MitchellĀ
Join our growing community
Justine first offered the Growing Slow Textiles course to volunteers ofĀ the #HomegrownHomespun project in Blackburn. She started thisĀ Fibershed-inspired flax and indigo growing collaboration with Patrick Grant and Superslow Way in 2021 and together they grew the UK's first indigo linen cloth in over 100 years. Justine went on to help produce #WomanGrowsJeans making British fashion history. Growing Slow Textiles is now an annual event building an international community of folks with the skills to grow their own cloth.
INTRODUCING...
FIBRE + DYE PIONEERS CREATING THEĀ BEAUTIFUL, EQUITABLE FUTURE WE ALL KNOW IS POSSIBLE... NOW
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Weāll be joined by our specialists via zoom from 10am-12pm on theĀ provisional monthly meeting dates below (TO BE CONFIRMED.)
RECONNECT WITH THE PLANTS THAT CLOTHED HUMANITY FOR 20,000 YEARS (BEFORE FOSSIL FUELS!)
During this 9 month gestation from seed to cloth you'll discover what over 600 generations of our mothers, mothers knew - how to grow indigo linen.Ā We'llĀ share:
- regenerative growing principals
- rippling, retting, breaking, scutching and hackling flax
- drop spindle linen spinning
- indigo pigment extraction and both vat and fresh leaf dyeing
- hand weaving your own indigo linen pieces of cloth
- how to remedy 'grind culture' with meditative Earth Rests Yoga Nidra
These skills speak to us from a time before ecocide, when humans understood how to live in right relationship with their environmental kin. These are not head-locked intellectual theories, this is a hands-on, embodied initiation. We are not just talking about regeneration, we're doing it!
MARCH 15TH 2025
Seed BlessingĀ - a full introductionĀ toĀ the course including website orientation, seed blessing and planting instructions.
APRIL 19TH 2025
Being RestorativeĀ - introduction to Fibershedās regenerative growing principals, key projects and the importance of rest to planetary restoration.
MAY 10TH 2025
Plant Spirit Medicine Journey with Flax and Woad with medical herbalist Pip Waller, exploring the healing possibilities of communion with plant allies and what it means to be indigenous in colonialist countries.
JUNE 14TH 2025
Deeper than Indigo - a talk by acclaimed author Jenny Balfour-Paul, specifically considering the folklore, myths and magic of indigo dye within various cultures.
JULY 19TH 2025
Indigo Pigment Extraction & Dyeing - Iāll take you through the entire process from plant to coloured yarn.
AUGUST 16TH 2025
Rett, Break, Scutch & HackleĀ Ā - Simon and Ann Cooper from Flaxland will demystify flax processing techniques in time for our harvest. Weāll also make flax dollies to bless next yearās crops.
SEPTEMBER 20TH 2025
Drop Spindle SpinningĀ with Allan Brown who specialises in processing, spinning and weaving native textile crops including flax and nettles.
OCTOBER 18TH 2025
Hand Weaving an Indigo Linen Patch using everyday equipment with Ali Sharman of The Weaving Studio.
NOVEMBER 15TH 2025
Show & Tell - weāll share our results and learning experiences.
SKILLS EMPOWER YOU WITH QUALITIES MONEY CAN'T BUY
Growing Slow Textiles is an invitation to develop a regenerative craft practice by journeying through every stage from seed to cloth with two heritage fibre and dye plants - flax and indigo. During this holistic process youāll join a pioneering community exploring deep ecology and defining for ourselves what it means to be āEarth Restorersā.
Over the course of nine x 2hr monthly online meetings, youāll be guided through the empowering skills that enabled our ancestors to sow, tend, harvest, process, spin, dye and weave their own cloth. In addition, this process will allow space for group enquiry into embodied ecology and indigeneity.
I'MĀ JUSTINE
I'm a natural textile dyer, commercial indigo grower andĀ Fibreshed coordinator who recently made fashion history byĀ producing the U.K.'s first pair of 100% homegrown jeans. This involved me learning every skill from seed to garment and initiated me into an embodied understanding of natural materials and human labour that changed how I felt about fashion, consumption and life forever!Ā Hand-spinning for 3-4 hours everyday for a year to produce almost 5 kilometres of linen yarn, felt like coming home to matrilineal wisdom that had been hidden in my ancestral muscle memory. I have a deep kinship with both flax and indigo that I love to share with others hearing the call to be the change.
"I let go of trying to do things by the book. I trusted my instincts and got to know the plants. I was just so elated at the first sign of growth coming out of the soil. So this element of the plants as teachers has just been so profound to me. This has got me closer to plants in a way I haven't experienced before."
Amanda Walker
āI donāt think I will see textiles the same way after this class. I do feel like theyāre really precious the things weāve created and it gives you a totally different way of looking at textiles. I really had a wonderful time and I never would have thought I could grow and process flax.ā
Jennifer Bonner
"Working with flax has been such a revelation and so exciting! It felt liberating and growing it in the garden gave a real sense of connection with the past and heritage craft and the importance of maintaining those skills."
Alex Lowman
āI have so enjoyed this year and it has changed my soul.ā
Debbie Munro
āYour constant reassurance that this is a slow process and that this is something to be embodied was just so helpful.ā
Kate Dickenson
ISĀ THIS INITIATIONĀ RIGHT FOR YOU?
You don't have to grow your own jeans but are you ready to create a patch of resistance against fast fashion and help grow a more beautiful future for clothing?Ā
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It's such a tiny thing. Just a little patch to mend your jeans with. It means nothing to most people but to those who have undergone this process, it means the world. Many are moved to tears toĀ realise that with this piece of cloth, they'veĀ become part of a movement of creative mavericks restoring the planet.
In fact, it's no small feat to pour hours of love, skill, time and determination into a square of indigo linen that means you can avoid buying new jeans. It's a profound talisman of hope and a constant reminder of your commitment to being a good ancestor.
š± I'm ready to grow slow textiles! š±
Underpinning this experience is the fact that this relatively new āregenerativeā buzzword involves techniques inspired by indigenous wisdom, a common feature of which is having a better understanding of humanityās place in itās ecosystem through the use of practices that engender communion with nature.
Indigenous cultures make up just 5% of the worldās population yet protect more than 80% of global biodiversity ā National Geographic
Our experiential way of learning challenges prejudice (racism, sexism, even speciesism!) and conventional notions of education requiring an intermediary. We present opportunities to connect directly with the wisdom of plants using concentration techniques - the way our ancestors did. Growing plants yourself is already a form of meditation but we will spend time each session giving back āEarth Restsā by slowing down our energy usage with specially written elemental relaxations to enhance both personal and planetary wellbeing. This technique enables people to tune out of the dominant ecocidal narrative and into the frequency of RESToration.
The Earth rests when we rest - Ayana Young
Carbon consumption is at the heart of our environmental crisis and closely linked with what has been termed āgrind cultureā. Based on a study entitled, āStop the Clock: The Environmental Benefits of a Shorter Working Weekā, shifting to a 4 day working week would save the UK 127 million tonnes of carbon per year. So using the same averages, this means thatĀ if everyone in the U.K. practiced just one Earth Rest per month we would save 3 million tonnes of carbon per year.Ā So, by participating in this course you will be giving back to the Earth more than you take which is the very nature of regeneration.
BOOK YOUR PLACEĀ TODAY!
ā¼ļø STRUGGLING FINANCIALLY? PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] AND LET'S TALKā¼ļø
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. - W. B. Yeats
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