Give a beloved garment a second life through the beauty of the season with Solar Dyeing.
In this immersive workshop, participants are invited to bring a favorite cotton or denim piece—jeans, jackets, shirts, tote bags, natural fiber—to transform through the art of botanical solar dyeing.
Using flowers, leaves, and solar dye, we'll create unique compositions directly on fabric, allowing nature to leave its mark through color, pattern, and unexpected beauty. Along the way, we'll explore creative ways to extend the life of the clothes we already own.
Each participant will leave with the knowledge and skills required to continue this art into the future, along with a one-of-a-kind botanical garment infused with the blooms of the season!
Friday, September 18
10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Members: $80 | Non-members: $85
This is an information post only, you must register on the Morris Arboretum website or call (215)-247-5777 for info.
Let’s Hike + Dye! PWYC
Come spend a slow morning solar dyeing among the trees.
We’ll gather for an easy, accessible walk along Forbidden Drive in Wissahickon Park, noticing the plants and seasonal blooms growing around before settling in for a relaxed outdoor solar dye session together. Solar dyeing is similar to cyanotype but instead of just blues a rainbow of colors can be achieved in minutes.
What to Expect
We’ll meet at 10:15 AM and begin walking around 10:25 AM.
The trail is mostly flat, beginner-friendly, and accessible, with a relaxed pace and plenty of time to take in the surroundings.
Schedule
10:15 AM — Meet + Intro
10:25 AM — Begin easy nature walk (about 20–25 minutes)
Gather together for a hands-on solar dye session (about 30–40 minutes)
Walk back afterward- ends around 12:15 PM – at the beginning trailhead
I’ll bring a backpack filled with natural solar dyes, fabric pieces to experiment with, pressed botanicals and examples of the process. You’ll learn how solar dyeing works and have time to create your own naturally dyed piece outdoors in the sunshine.
You’re welcome to:
Bring a small natural fiber fabric piece no bigger than 10in x 10in. natural fibers only- cotton, linen, silk, hemp, rayon)
OR use a fabric piece I’ll have available to share
What to Bring
Water + snacks if needed
A bag to bring home the dyed piece
Anything else you need to feel comfortable outdoors
Meeting Location
Bells Mill Road West Trailhead
9598 Forbidden Drive, Philadelphia, PA
The trail is on Forbidden Drive.
Parking is easiest in the East Parking Lot, then walking down through the trees to the trailhead marker. I’ll include a photo/map point in the post to make it easy to find.
If transportation is a barrier, feel free to message me, I may have a few ride spots available.
Registration
Please register in advance since space is intentionally small.
Max group size: 10 people
Pay what you can
Recommended contribution: $10 to help cover dye materials + supplies
Join us for this unique MALT collaboration! We will gather at Blue Bell Park for a meditative Forest Bath with Maegan followed by a Botanical Alchemy hand-dyeing workshop with Carin. The Forest Bath will offer the opportunity to immerse your senses in the restorative power of nature! We will engage in restorative forest therapy practices focused on mindfulness, meditation, and slowing down. Then we will celebrate the magic of the natural world through Botanical Alchemy. Students will create beautiful hand-dyed botanical banners to take home using hand-dyed fabrics and foraged botanicals. At the end of this workshop, you will leave with a one-of-a-kind fabric hanging artwork, and a renewed sense of gratitude and connection to nature, and yourself. All materials provided, but students are welcome to bring their own dried botanicals and cotton fabric for dyeing.
October 10, 2026
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location:Blue Bell Park
Exchange: $54.00
+$20 materials fee to be paid to workshop leaders. Includes: prepped 22" x 22" cotton banner, dye, and take-home packaging. Students may bring their own dried botanicals and plain cotton fabrics for added personalization.
***This is an information post only, you must register on the Mt Airy Learning Tree (MALT) website or call 215-843-6333 for info.
About the Instructors:
is a licensed mental health therapist and registered 500-hour yoga therapist. She has been using mindfulness meditation to help herself and others heal for nearly a decade. As a part of this, Maegan has been guiding Forest Baths in urban settings since 2018.
Carin Sauerwein
is a natural dyer, artist, and educator with over 25 years of experience in botanical dyeing. After leaving the corporate fashion world, she founded Dye on the Side to reconnect with nature, creativity, and community. Her teaching practice is rooted in sustainability, sensory play, and creating calm through color.
Location: Pomona NY
Come spend an afternoon in the garden with me and my beloved mentor & friend, Karen, aka Purple Karen.
Yes, that Karen!! the wonderful person who taught me how to dye! She’s been part of my creative life for more than 25 years, and I’m so excited to finally bring you into her world.
We’ll gather in Karen’s garden and home to celebrate the season, make something beautiful, and give a beloved garment a second life through the magic of botanical solar dyeing.
Bring a favorite cotton or denim piece a pair of jeans, jacket, shirt, tote, or other natural fiber garment and we’ll transform it together using flowers, leaves, and Solar Dye. You’ll create your own compositions directly on fabric, letting the blooms of the season leave their mark through color, pattern, and a little bit of the unexpected.
This afternoon is part workshop, part garden party, and part creative hang — with time to learn, experiment, wander and enjoy the company of good people in a very special (and very magical) place.
Come make something with us, meet Karen, and see where some of my own love of dyeing began :)
Check out Karen’s Website and Instagram!
***Register and more info message me dyeonthside@gmail.com
Every week, I have the joy of gathering with little artists to explore, create, and discover the magic of making with their own hands.
Mini Makers is a gentle, nature inspired art class for children ages 18 months - 5 years + and their caretakers. Together we paint, print, sculpt, weave, experiment, and play through open-ended art experiences.
One of my favorite parts of teaching is introducing children to creating with natural earth pigments!
I'd love for you and your little one to join us!
Monday class is inside at Kith + Kin and Tuesdays are outside at Corinthian Gardens!
Weekly Classes
Mondays | 10:30–11:30 AM
Kith + Kin Playspace- 3060 W. Jefferson St. (entrance on 31st st.)
Philadelphia, PA 19121
Tuesdays | 10:30–11:30 AM
Corinthian Gardens- For our Corinthian Gardens site, we are located in the northeast corner of the garden (On the corner of Brown St. and Corinthian Ave., just inside the gates at the picnic tables) There is free street parking on both streets.
Price: $25 per child (Class Packs and discounts for siblings are available)
This is your invitation to step away from screens and schedules and into a little garden witchery for your nervous system.
We’ll explore the beauty benefits and therapeutic wellbeing that comes from spending time with bees, connecting with the hive, working with our hands, and creating something meaningful from what’s already around us.
And YES!! you get to put on a bee suit and visit the hive!
Don’t worry, you’ll be safely suited up and guided by the wonderful humans at Half Mad Honey. You must try this.
We’ll gather around the table to transform a beloved natural-fiber garment with botanicals + sunlight, creating your own little piece of the garden to take home.
And while you’re nourishing yourself, you’re also supporting the bees and a local, women-owned business dedicated to keeping these important little pollinators and our community… thriving. 💛
Bring a beloved natural-fiber garment.
Leave wearing a little piece of the garden.
Come meet the bees.
Stay for the honey.
Make something beautiful.
Leave a little more grounded, connected, and gloriously glowing beautiful you!
Exchange: $65 a person ***directly supporting the bees and a local, women-owned business dedicated to keeping these important little pollinators and our community!!!
Register at Half Mad Honey
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