Traditional Dyes for Modern Fabric Lovers. Color, color, and more color-dyeing fabric was just as important to the citizens of 18th-century America in places such as Williamsburg, Virginia, as it is to today's quilters and fabric artists. Using traditional dyestuffs in nontoxic ways, quilters can blend the historic old with a vibrant new world of pure color. Nine natural color sources are used in recipes to create 14 beautiful colors for wool, cotton, or linen fabrics, textiles, and yarns. Professional photography by Barbara Lombardi.