To Dye For - NYTimes.com When designers want their fabric colors to come naturally, they call Jane Palmer. The L.A.-based dye artisan behind Noon Design Studio, Palmer has a reputation for bringing a chemist's fastidiousness and consistency to the often erratic art of vegetable dyeing. Her vivid custom hues, obtained via roots, bark, mineral powders and even crushed insects, lend artisanal loveliness to the collections of clients like Dosa's Christina Kim and the cool-kid interiors firm Commune, for whom Palmer recently produced blankets dyed with natural indigo, chestnuts and French yellow flowers. Indigo, the rich, nuanced natural blue dye that gives Japanese folk textiles and vintage Levi's their ineffable cool, is Palmer's most requested shade and the most complicated to achieve. "It's not a fill-up-a-bucket-and-dunk situation," Palmer says. It's full of chemistry and art. It's also, she adds, "an addictively fun process," which is why she has introduced gift-wrapped indigo dye kits ($38 - $42) that make the traditional art form accessible to dye-curious newcomers. Included in the reusable-napkin-encased box are instructions and supplies for shibori - the Japanese precision tie-dye technique favored by Proenza Schouler - and enough dye and auxiliary materials (all natural, naturally) to reinvent a set of bedding or table linens, or a few items of clothing. Palmer recommends using the kit for a wardrobe revamp: adding shibori hexagons to faded jeans, for instance, or tinting a favorite white button-down shirt that's lost its luster. "Indigo is magical," she says. The kale-growing, scarf-knitting style-philes on your holiday gift list will undoubtedly agree. Available at ABC Carpet & Home and noondesignstudio.com.