Things in Stitchwind were quiet as the High Council worked on figuring out how to deal with the dragon and return the hoard of fabric to the citizens of the city. In the meantime, the Melee Guild was escorting new shipments of fabric into the city, though with such short notice nearly all of the deliveries were of plain fabric. Many had volunteered to try and dye the new fabrics so the city had the variety of colors to stitch on once more.
You wake early one morning. You drowsily look around your room as you rub the sleep from your eyes. Something roused you from your slumber, but you aren’t sure what it was. You sit up to get a better look and that’s when you see it.
A letter had been slid under your door. It is folded in thirds, a bright crimson blot of wax sealing it shut.
You get out of bed, curious. You pick it up from the floor and break the seal. You are quickly filled with dread as you read the first line.
‘PREPARE TO DYE!’
‘A threat?’ you wonder. ‘Delivered within the guild?’ You quickly open your door, needing to alert one of the guild leaders about this.
As you head to the guild leaders’ office, one of your fellow guild members spots you. ‘You’re up early,’ she says. ‘And rather bothered. Everything okay?’
‘I found this in my room,’ you explain, handing over the threat to them. ‘I was headed to the guild leaders.’
She takes the letter from you and looks over it, before chuckling. ‘You just woke up, didn’t you?’ she asks and you nod. ‘This isn’t a threat. It’s an invitation. From The Weaver.’
‘The Weaver?’ you ask. You had heard the name mentioned in passing before, but didn’t know much more about them.
‘The Weaver is a sage of the fiber arts and a master of the alchemy of dyeing,’ she explained, handing over the letter once more. ‘The Weaver has offered their knowledge and expertise to help with the shortage of specialty fabric that was lost to the dragon’s hoard. And it looks like you’ve gotten a coupon for their shop.’
You look down at the letter in your hands again and it indeed continues with an offer.
‘15% off the entire store of dye!’ You feel a little sheepish for jumping to such extreme conclusions, but your guild mate smiles at you.
‘It’s okay, we’ve all made that mistake,’ she says. ‘But you should go and visit The Weaver. It’ll be a great learning experience.’
You can’t help but agree, certainly interested in visiting this Weaver. Your guild mate gives you directions to The Weaver’s place outside of Stitchwind’s city limits.
You quickly go and get ready then head out on your way to The Weaver’s.
You soon find yourself in an old part of the forest outside Stitchwind. It is both beautiful and eerie. You manage to find the path that your guild mate told you about and continue along your way. You know your guild mates wouldn’t steer you wrong, so you push away the feeling of being watched and head deeper into the woods.
You continue along the path and find yourself at a cottage sitting in a clearing among the trees. Racks and drying lines fill the side yard, all of them filled with beautifully dyed fabrics and threads and yarns. The path cuts through a garden in the front yard. The garden is teeming with flowers and plants of so many different colors. You can’t help but run a hand through the blossoms as you walk through, inspired by the colors that surround you.
You make your way to the door and knock.
‘Come in!’ You hear a call from inside the cottage and let yourself in.
You are amazed to see the interior is filled with even more.
Over at a large loom, you see a figure in gorgeous homemade robes hard at work on the project before them. This could only be The Weaver.
They pick up their head and study you with a keen gaze. ‘And what brings you by?’ They ask.
Amazed into silence, you simply hold up the the letter that was slid under your door.
‘Ah, here to help with Stitchwind’s colorless conundrum?’ Says The Weaver with a grin. They step away from their loom and bring you over to a wall of shelves.
Each shelf is packed with jars of dye, every color imaginable. You stare in awe at the rainbow before you for a few moments before realizing The Weaver is watching you expectantly. You smile some and start to choose colors you want to work with.
The Weaver takes the dyes from you and packages them up nicely for you. You pay for your dyes, but before you can be on your way, The Weaver hands you some paper and a pencil.
“What’s this for?” You ask.
“Before I can let you go off and experiment, there is some information you need,’ They say.
With that, they go into a detailed explanation of the dyeing process, covering from how to even go about dyeing to all the safety measures that need to be taken too. They pause only long enough to allow you to take proper notes. Once their lesson is over, they examine your notes, triple checking that you got all the safety aspects correct. Once satisfied, they let you go on your way.
With a pack ladened with dyes, you begin your trek back to Stitchwind.
As you pass through the garden once more, you hear The Weaver call after you from the front door. ‘Remember, they want you dyeing, not dying! There’s an important difference!’
Continue the Story
Your Quest
No stitching this quest! Your task this time is to dye some of your spare fabric. This can be a small scrap piece, or a larger swatch of fabric if you're feeling confident.
You can dye using purchased dyes, or color your fabric using natural dyes using stuff around the house.
We've collected a number of helpful resources for you regarding several techniques used for dyeing or staining fabrics. Please do discuss with others here on the forums or in Discord to help you understand how to dye safely, and how to test if your newly colored fabric is color safe.
Resources
Here's some tutorials that have been Lia-approved for accuracy and safety. Please also ask in discord or your guild halls for any clarification or questions. Lia, our resident dyeing professional is usually more than willing to answer questions as well.
Natural Dyes;
- Tea Staining - Coloring fabric with Tea!
- The Art of Natural Dyeing - Great overview on Natural dyes, with color examples
- Dye-It-Yourself Eco-Printed Table Linens - Example of patterns created with plants!
- Dyeing with Curly Dock - Another example of dying with local plants
- Rit Dye's own directions - If using a different brand, check their recommendations instead. And always wear a mask when using chemical dyes!
- Ice/Snow Dyeing - The popular ice-dyeing method. But now with more safety!
- Ice Dying
- Ice Dying (BUT WEAR A MASK)
- Tea Dying
- Natural Dyes
Books, if you're wanting to do this again in the future and want additional resources
- Color By Accident: Low-Water Immersion Dyeing (FREE!)
- Wild Color: Revised and Updated
- The Modern Natural Dyer
All done? Reply here with a photo of your dyed fabric. Let us know what you used to dye it, or what techniques you used!
If you did this quest back in July 2020 on the discord feel free to re-submit the piece you did then, dye a new one, or both!
Reward
- MQ_D_PreparetoDye.png (3.21 KiB) Viewed 5542 times
