Julie Sinden grew up with a loom the size of a small car in her living room.
Her mother was a prolific fibre artist who passed it on. “I was a nerdy 12-year-old who was, like, cross-stitching everyone’s Christmas ornaments,” she remembers.
In her 40s, Sinden is still a fibre arts obsessive. She grows Japanese indigo plants in her backyard and uses them to dye fabric with kaleidoscopic sea-blue shibori patterns. She’s travelled the world from Morocco to Mexico to learn local techniques from artisans who safeguarded their practices by passing them down.
And she runs two companies: Julie Sinden Handmade and The Love of Colour. Through The Love of Colour, she teaches natural dyeing classes at The Workroom and sells dyeing supplies. Through Julie Sinden Handmade, she sells boiled-wool hats, slippers and mittens, which she says have been selling “like gangbusters” at Toronto craft fairs for 20 years.
Today, she’s trying — in fits and starts — to pass her love of dyeing and weaving on to her own 12-year-old daughter. Over her pre-teen’s complaints that “we can buy Halloween costumes on Amazon,” this year Sinden made matching costumes for her daughter and a friend. Her daughter came home thrilled that the costumes were a hit on her neighbourhood’s doorsteps.
“We’ve got a handmade life going over here,” Sinden laughs.
A pair of mittens is $49, and a hat goes for $69.
This article appeared in the 2025 Dec – 2026 Jan issue.
