Woad is happy growing in the lime-rich, chalky soils of Sussex, and Felicity couldn't resist an opportunity to grow some to discover how easy it can be to use as a natural fabric dye in her textile crafting. After preparing the ground and sowing the seeds, there was a wait of some months as the first pigment-heavy leaves pushed through the soil and grew.

Some beautiful organic cotton (which remained undyed and unutilised from an earlier project) was then subjected to the elaborate chemical process of converting the pigment from the harvested leaves to the right colour, whilst carefully monitoring the changing hue of the froth that bubbled up on top of the pot as it was stirred tirelessly over the flames. The resulting coloured cloth was then matched-up with a remnant from a past interior furnishing job to add interest to the handle, then cut and stitched to make one of the most useful things imaginable - a reusable shopping bag.