Julie Ingram of Euabalong in the Central West of NSW is taking the art of quilting to new depths – in both the range of colours and the choice of raw merino wool as a quilting fabric.

Julie is taking scoured merino wool and dying it in the shades of Australia by using native Australian plants along with mushrooms, onions, logwood, madder root, cochineal ... the list of possibilities is endless. Beautiful tonal variations are gained by the number of dippings into the dye - tones are built on tones. And the results are amazing and unique as the colours are never the same. Julie said, “It is so much fun especially with the ancient dyes. As I'm putting it out on the line, I start getting pictures of what I want to create with it...”

Once dried, Julie then uses up to five layers of wool, in five different shades and quilts the wool thickness of 24cm down to 1 cm thick to create a fabric that is very light and very soft – ideal for scarves, shawls, jackets and quilts.

With this infectious excitement that Julie has about her dying and quilting process, she has a dream of creating an Australian landscape quilt based on the theme of the ‘broombush' or the Melaleuca industry of which she and her husband, Trevor have been a part of since 1985 based at the Melaleuca Cafe in Euabalong.

After 36 years of quilting and experimenting it has finally happened for Julie . She has had success at numerous quilting markets where the response has been “we've never seen anything like it!” It has long arm quilters very excited including Michelle Turner , a highly successful and prize winning quilter both here in Australia and in the US .

“She was bowled over by the whole idea and can't wait to have a go,” said Julie . With the new medium, any other fibre can be introduced to create any form of wearable art.

Julie and Trevor have shut the Cafe all together so she can work on her natural dye wool quilting and do further study: “This is an all Australian Indigenous business and we are aiming to be in contact with other remote indigenous businesses to get a wider selection of roots for the dyes.”

The Condobolin Argus