Message: Help! How do I dye fabric with a lot (about 13-15) of different shades of colour? I would like to make a quilt in various colours of brown, from cream to a fairly dark brown. I do hope you can advise, and thank you for at least reading this.

This can be great fun. The easiest method (and the most fun, in my opinion) is to dye fabric in low water immersion dyeing (see "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing"). Ann Johnston has a wonderful book called "Color By Accident" in which she explains in great detail how even a novice can dye fabrics in related groups of colors that she calls "color parfaits". I strongly recommend that you either purchase this book or look for it at your local public library.

Another method is to mix up several colors of dye, and then place different amounts of each dye into a number of plastic bags, so each bag contains a different mixture of colors, as in Adriene Buffington's Hand-Dyed Fabric Made Easy. This book appears to be out of print, but you could look for it at your local public library, or order it from an online used book seller.

The type of dye to use, in either case, is cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. You don't want to use all-purpose dye, now that you are getting serious about color. This dye is best purchased by mail-order; see my list of different companies that sell dye, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies".