I was casting about for the right combination of tablecloth and flowers for an upcoming dinner when I looked at my garden and realized that the lavender has bloomed. Problem solved! One of the first tablecloths I made with natural dyes is still among my best and the only flower that looks good with it is lavender. (I'm sure I have shown it many times, but in the spiral of experience, here it comes again.) I made it with my usual combination of tannin-based dye (myrobalan), wax, and over-dye, with embroidery to set it off. The use of logwood gray and logwood purple make it akin to the runner I am currently working on for Lisa's autumn table. Logwood purple (from the South American tree) is a soft blue-purple color that is unfortunately fugitive. Adding iron turns it into a silvery gray that I love and increases its light-fastness. I often add log purple to a stronger log gray mixture to nudge it towards the blue. That's what happened in the center of this cloth, where there is a whisper of lavender compared to the grayer background color and edging. I found out by covering the bluish center square with a large centerpiece that a lot of life goes out of this cloth if you can't see the middle motif, so now I use something small and clear in the middle, if anything at all.
There were six around the table on a beautiful summer night in lavender time.