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Piece Dyeing: It’s Never Over

Looking for a great way to use up oddball skeins? See how one spinner knitted a shawl from bits of handspun, then overdyed it for a cohesive look!

Martha Owen Jul 7, 2025 - 5 min read

Piece Dyeing: It’s Never Over  Primary Image

Martha knitted a shawl using handspun leftovers and then piece-dyed it in madder and lichen. Photos by Matt Graves unless otherwise noted

This story starts like an old one, a story of handspun garment design and rejuvenation that begins, “Joseph had a little overcoat. It was old and worn. So, he made a jacket out of it and went to the fair.” Through the story, Joseph’s jacket is remade again and again. He should have tried dyeing!

Piece dyeing is a way to refresh a garment, unify a textile created with many odd bits of yarn, or alter a palette of many shades in a previous over-dye experiment. It is also a way to recover from an “oops!” color combination.

Can this be the same shawl? Click on the images below to get a closer look at Martha's shawl before and after piece dyeing.

Samples are a nice thing in a well-planned life, but, of course, sampling doesn’t always happen. There is an enthusiasm that moves us from the wheel to the loom or needles! Piece dyeing offers us a way forward that does not involve starting over; it can create a fresh look by adding a uniting color to the entire textile. Close your eyes and imagine dyeing a multicolored sweater:

What will happen if I put the whole thing in a blue dyepot? What about yellow or walnut brown? Will the colors mix or layer?

Creating a Set of Swatches

I searched my baskets of handspun yarns with “no known destiny” and chose bottom-of-the-barrel combinations that were not so satisfying at the start. I chose those that were about the same gauge. These were forgotten odd bits of handspun, gifts of departed spinsters, and leftovers from long-ago

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