silk scarves Archives - Doris' Website

Pastel Travel Scarves Snow Dyed for Spring

February has been a great month for snow dyeing. I think we got most of our snow during this month. In preparation for spring weather, I dyed these scarves in a variety of lighter shades. The one on the left reminds me of Pantone’s color of the year: PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral. I am rinsing out shades of blue and green as well.

two containers with snow dyed scarves by dorislovadinalee.com Toronto Ontario Canada

While I had the scarves together and was admiring the colours, my son picked up one of the snow dyed scarves and promptly named it: Pink Flamingo. I laughed and challenged him to name them all! So here they are:

Lively Marsh
Safari Dusk
Soft Radiance
Peach Cobbler

Can you match the name to the scarf?

5 pastel travel scarves snow dyed in pastel colors in Toronto Ontario Canada by Doris Lovadina-Lee textile artist

Are you planning on travelling? These newly snow dyed linen/rayon scarves crinkle beautifully when washed and dried. They are perfect travel scarves. Just twist and put in your luggage. Shake out and wear. Machine wash and dry!

Shibori Scarves available at Boutique Firenze, London, Ontario

vending / By dorisL

Boutique Firenze is a gift shop in London, Ontario. It is the dream of owner Bettina Weber and husband Len Elliot. They travel to Italy to personally select the beautiful items available for their shop.

Luckily, you won’t have to travel to Europe, to purchase fine quality leather gloves, silk scarves and hand crafted gift wares.

This bricks and mortar shop has only been open a short while. Previously, the owners worked at selling these luxurious yet affordable items part-time.

Boutique Firenze also carries a selection of fine handcrafted items from Canada including my scarves! They coordinate very well with all the beautiful gloves they carry from Florence.

Hand dyed shibori and indigo scarves on display in Boutique Firenze London Ontario, scarves by Doris Lovadina-Lee — Photo courtesy of Boutique Firenze

Gloves for the man in your life.

Display of Doris Lovadina-Lee's hand dyed shibori scarves at Boutique Firenze in London Ontario — Photo courtesy of Boutique Firenze

Snow dyed, shibori and indigo dyed scarves hand-made just for you. Visit to see the selection.

Whatever you are looking for, the perfect gift to give or for yourself, Bettina will be happy to help you. I hope you have the opportunity to visit the store and see the selection of gifts available, including Murano glass jewellery, and my scarves of course!

Best artwork of 2017!

Fibre art / By dorisL

Nine of my best liked Instagram posts from 2017. These were automatically generated by logging into: https://2017bestnine.com/.

An interesting way to see your work in relation to how others see it. I was surprised at a couple of inclusions.

Instagram is such a great platform for capturing snapshots of your work. I use Instagram quite a bit in my work to:

record works in progress
record finished pieces
to help me ‘see’ my work at a distance
create a visual list take when shopping for materials
send information to others

How do you use Instagram in your work?

Community Centre 55 Fall Fair Booth

Fibre art / By dorisL

Spent the day outdoors this past Saturday participating in Community Centre 55 Fall Fair. It was a beautiful hot day – more like summer than the beginning of fall! The tent held hand-made items by @peggythompson, @amysplacehandmade and myself.

Peggy is hanging up her tie-dyed t-shirts and had her beautiful jewellery is on display at the rear of the tent. Soy candles, bath salts and soaps scented with essential oils created by Amy from Amy’s Place HandMade were available. Her teacup candles are so beautiful!

Hand dyed shibori scarves are hanging, catching the breeze!

l brought a selection of pouches made with hand dyed canvas and repurposed leather. Also on display are some of the quilted art postcards made with hand dyed fabrics and beading.

Indigo table runners, dinner sized napkins, and pillow cases are on display.

Pillows made with indigo dyed cotton, cotton/linen.

It was great to spend some time outside talking to people from the neighbourhood.

Photographs of newest shibori scarves

Fibre art / By dorisL

I had the opportunity to have my scarves photographed by my friend Joanne. We decided to use a beautiful wooden desk. The scarves are draped to beautifully show off the change in colours and the shibori designs.

I hope you enjoyed viewing the gallery of scarves. Some of these scarves have already sold!

On Saturday Sept. 23, 2017 I will have a selection of hand dyed items including scarves at the Community Centre 55 annual Fall Festival. The festival is from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Kimberely Public School, 50 Swanwick Ave., Toronto, ON.

Come out to support the centre, begin your Christmas shopping, and enjoy the afternoon with your family. See you there!

Urban Market at Trillium Park, Ontario Place Labour Day Weekend

vending / By dorisL

Summer is a time for enjoying the outdoors. This Labour Day weekend spend time at the new Trillium Park at Ontario Place. I will be displaying my hand dyed original scarves along with 30 other vendors at the Urban Market. This event coincides with the 150th Anniversary Festival at Ontario Place.

Amy from Amy’s Place Handmade, Peggy from Jewellery by Peggy and I will be showing off all of our beautiful handmade goods at the Urban Market.

Soy candles by @amysplacehandmade

Silk scarves by @lovadina.lee

Jewellery by @peggythompson

Urban Market at Trillium Park, Ontario Place

Labour Day Weekend

Saturday and Sunday

September 2-3

11am to 5pm

Amy, Peggy and I hope to see you there!

Silk Scarf Workshop at Amy’s Handmade Place

Fibre art / By dorisL

A group of creative women gathered together on Sunday at Amy’s Handmade Place to make their own hand dyeing silk scarves. Peggy (@peggythompson) listened attentively while I showed examples.

I demonstrated how to fold scarves to create different shibori designs. These pictures show glimpses of Amy’s beautiful studio space, located in the back of her shop: Amy’s Handmade Place. There is even a small deck outside the back where we enjoyed showing off our scarves.

Wendy (Pook & Thy) mixing up the dyes – turquoise and fuchsia for her scarf.

Scarves were rinsed but not yet washed and dried. They couldn’t resist showing off their handiwork!

Washed, and ironed. Lovely and soft. It was a fun day showing these eager students how to dye silk scarves.

Ginnie, Peggy and Amy wearing their very stylish scarves.

Amy and I in her store, can you see another one of my hand dyed scarves in the background?

There is another workshop scheduled for June 11th, join us!

Silk Scarf Dyeing: an Artisanal Workshop

Fibre art / By dorisL

I am very happy to be teaching two afternoon workshops at Amy’s Place Handmade at 155 Main Street, Toronto, Ontario. Working in a sunny, bright studio, we will be dyeing a one-of-a-kind beautiful silk scarf. The dates are Sunday May 28, 2017 and Sunday June 11, 2017 from 12-3.

The Process

Step 1: Folding, twisting and preparing scarf.

Step 2: Applying dye

Step 3: Rinsing and washing scarf

Step 4: Admiring scarf!

Below are a few scarves I have dyed using very simple techniques that create beautiful textures and designs.

I hope that you will join me at Amy’s Place Handmade. Take a few hours for yourself to learn a new technique, make some new friends, have some fun and go home wearing your own original silk scarf.

See you there!

Overdyeing silk scarf

Fibre art / By dorisL

One of the pieces of silk fabric I snow dyed resulted in a beautiful palette of spring greens. A mandala is centered on the 36″ silk square.

At the same time, I dyed a long silk scarf. The results of this piece was not as successful. A small amount of the dye was deposited on the outside of the folded triangle, while the centre folds had almost no dye.

I decided to put this scarf into another dye bath. I had already washed it out, so I pressed it into the same folds as the first time I dyed it and proceeded to dip it into a turquoise dye bath.

The results are much more interesting and vibrant! Don’t be afraid to dip your fabrics back into another dye bath, if you aren’t pleased with your results.

Arashi Shibori scarf or art?

Fibre art / By dorisL

My favorite fabric dyeing technique is Arashi Shibori. It creates such a gorgeous design. It can be bold with strong lines or delicate with fine veining. This burgundy silk scarf has the latter effect.

It would look lovely just hanging as an art piece.

It would be equally lovely hanging around your neck!

silk scarves

Amy, Peggy and I hope to see you there!

The Process

Below are a few scarves I have dyed using very simple techniques that create beautiful textures and designs.

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