When you dry your face with a fluffy yellow towel or slip on your favorite pair of dark wash jeans you likely don’t consider how they got their hues. These days, most fabrics are colored with synthetic dyes, but there’s a centuries old tradition of using natural dyes made from plants and other organic materials to achieve deep reds, burnished oranges and soft indigoes. The Textile Arts Center has created a program called Sewing Seeds to preserve and share traditional natural dyeing techniques, and on Thursday they’re throwing a festival of color, and a fundraiser, at Dumbo Loft called Stained. The whole thing is a celebration of the smell, taste, texture and, of course, color of natural dyes, from cocktails and small plates made with ingredients that can also be used as stains and coloring agents, to an exploration of scents by natural beauty guru, Jessa Blades. Tickets are $30, and include food, open bar from Sixpoint Brewery and Van Brunt Stillhouse, entertainment and music from DJ Ayres from The Rub.
