Adventures in Natural Dyeing: Part I

We've been having so much fun trying out different techniques for making our own fabrics! We've tried printing, Inkodye, fabric fun pens, photo transfers and home dyeing. Recently we tried out natural dyeing for the first time! Natural dyeing is using items found in nature (fruits, vegetables, insects, etc.) to color fabrics. It can be a lot of fun but the results are often quite inconsistent. We consulted our friend Missy about what items to try first and she suggested onions—so we did along with beets. Here's how it all went down:1. Choose items that are made of natural fibers (like cotton, wool, bamboo). I used a thrifted denim skirt and a homemade jersey scarf. 2. Pre-treat the garment(s) in a mordant. There are different kinds of mordant treatments but I mixed hot water (enough for my fabrics to move freely in) with 2 teaspoons alum and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar for 1 hour. 3. Chop up your vegetables and simmer them in hot water for 1 hour. Strain out most of the veggies and add your fabric. I let mine soak in the hot water (as it cooled) for about 5 hours. 4. Rinse garment(s) and then soak in a vinegar wash; using 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water for 20-30 minutes. Hand wash and dry. While the yellow onion skirt turned out really pretty our beet jersey scarf was a fail. Bummer! Since we used the exact same method for both this was very surprising. It may be that brighter/deeper colors need to soak in the dye bath longer. Also, since we had made the jersey scarf from scratch we had not washed the fabric prior to dying (while the thrifted skirt had been washed many times before). So that may have also contributed to how to the color didn't take well. Live and learn!Thanks for letting us share our first adventures with natural dyeing. We are hoping to try out some different techniques and natural dyeing materials soon—it's fun learning something new! If you have done your own natural dyeing experiments and have any tips or suggestions you'd like to share let us know. xo. emma and elsie

Comments

[Emily S]

That is really cool! Too bad the beet dyeing didn't turn out. I can only imagine how beautiful it would turn out.

[piper]

Beets are unfortunately, and surprisingly, a terrible natural dye. Onion skins can actually get much brighter. Wool tends to take better than cotton also. (My mom was a big hippy and a botanist)

[Sarah]

You should try red cabbage- in science class one year we made at least 9 different colors from the extracts of 1 red cabbage because of the different ratios.

[Sylvia]

I'm so surprised with this! I heard of using coffee as a dye, but never even imagine that onions could work that well on clothes. Thanks for sharing these absolutely innovative ideas, you guys always make the difference!

www.daretodiy.com

[Zoe]

I really love how you're starting to share your mistakes as well as your successful projects. It's a nice reminder that things don't always come out perfect, and that's okay!
xx

[heather]

Our family eats alot of black beans from week to week so I stopped buying cans and started buying dried. I graduated college with an Art Major and a concentration in Textiles so one day after taking my beans from the boiling purple liquid that was left I decided to throw in some natural fiber and toss a bunch of salt in with it. I left it in awhile and it came out this really nice earthy lighter purple/ brown. Salt is key. Black beans leave alot of natural dye behind so maybe you want to try this in as little water as possible to make the color stronger. And yes, tea works well too. I'm shocked that the beets didn't!

[Sacha]

Ridiculously awesome!

[Allison]

This is awesome! Love the colour! Thanks for sharing :)
xx
http://www.thrifted.ca

[Shea G]

Turmeric powder (just from the grocery store) works excellent! It comes out a vibrant yellow and maintains that even after it is washed! Other ones you can use are pokeberries and black walnuts, which will make less vibrant, but still beautiful dyes! Good luck :)

[Nina]

just so its clear to everyone, you only need to use the onion skins. the rest of the onion doesn't have the pigment. i haven't tried red onion skins but that might work out nicely.

red cabbage dye is really cool as well. if you add either an acid or a base to the dye it changes colour depending on the pH. so you can get some really beautiful blues and pinks. not sure how this would affect the fixability of the dye though as i only did it on scraps of paper.

note: using green plants doesn't work very well as the pigment chlorophyl is oil soluble unlike the other which are water soluble

[Katie Canavan]

That skirt looks great! I've been dying yarn with tea for the past month, and using a similar mordant process. However, I've been leaving the yarn in the tea overnight for the best color. So perhaps just a longer bath will make a stronger color? Also you should pre-wash whenever possible - a lot of fabric/fiber manufacturers coat their products with waxy stuff to make them look shinier and stay crisp in stores. So definitely try a pre-wash next time! Good luck!

[Jess]

In a natural materials sculpting class I took, we did a lot of natural dying. Tumeric can give a really nice rich yellow. And a few students had trouble with the beets too, so they must be a little fussy.

[ktbyl]

was the scarf a cotton or a polyester jersey? synthetic fabrics will not dye with natural dye

[Angela Marie]

I'd be afraid that it would smell too... Looks great though!

- Angela Marie @ http://sunkissedivory.blogspot.com

[Nina]

Oh and on top of what Jess said, turmeric really is awesome. I found the hot liquid took much better than when it had cooled. Another one that changes colour if you add an avid like vinegar or base like bicarbonate of soda. I'll leve it to you to find out which makes it bright red and which turns it back to yellow

[Marina]

Awesome!

xx
biskvittka.blogspot.com

[lot]

I like her necklace! Where is it from?

[Sille]

Try pure henna - soft oranges, browns, maybe even red like on hair? Also indigo for blue :)

[jessy]

Thanks for the comment above about using rhubarb leaves as a mordant! I'd never heard of that before, and I've just found rhubarb growing in my new garden :) Also: I've tried doing many things with beet juice. It doesn't stain well for me...

[Joni]

That skirt looks lovely!

I found this beautiful soft pink chiffon dress online that I would love even more if it was off-white instead of pink... You wouldn't happen to know if it's possible to dye chiffon?