One of the reasons I love this medium is that even though there are general scientific guidelines that will ensure you get colors within certain ranges, each color experiment is dependent upon the kind of water you used, the freshness of your materials, the mordants you use or don’t use, the type of fibers you are dyeing, the temperature of your dye pot, the length of time you allow it to sit, and whether or not it’s the first, second, or fourth item in the dye pot. You can usually get a bright pink, red, and purple from the same cochineal dye pot!
I’ve shared links to some of the harder to find dye stuffs below, but there are plenty of vegetables and plants that are probably already sitting in your kitchen somewhere. In fact, my favorite outcome from this process ended up being the avocado pit dye that gave me the perfect blush! You can get beautiful shades of caramely-orange from onion skins, and a vibrant clementine shade from turmeric (although I’m still working on how to keep it from fading in the sunlight), and a lovely blue from dry black beans!
If you’re able to gather your natural dye supplies, think about in which part of each season to look for them. Goldenrod in the early fall will offer a much brighter yellow than if picked in fall’s later months. Ask me how I know this. Ha! Be sure to gather items responsibly and without trespassing if you’re foraging in your neighborhood or the countryside. We made sure to only take as many black walnuts as needed last fall to ensure the squirrels weren’t going to go hungry on our street.
The amount of dye stuffs you’ll need will differ depending on the dye. Measurements are usually given based on the dry weight of the fiber you’re dyeing, so it’s a great idea to check out some of the books mentioned at the end of this post for more specific measurements. For example, I only used 2 oz. of cochineal to get that dark fuchsia/cranberry color and probably could’ve used only 1 oz. for the desired fuchsia I was after. I used 6 oz. of dried marigold petals and still had a weaker color than I was expecting. Take notes of your measurements as you experiment so you can make adjustments down the road.
Avocado Pits=light peachy pink on linen, light peach on silk, light blush on wool
Marigolds=light yellow on cotton and linen, olive green when used with iron
Turmeric=bright tangerine on linen, bright yellow when mixed with white vinegar
Yellow Onion Skins=warm orange on linen
Red Onion Skins=grayish purple on linen
Madder Root=bright rust on linen
Cochineal=bright cranberry on linen and silk
Hibiscus=a cool pink on linen
Mordants allow the dye to chemically bind to the fabric. You can add mordant to your fabric before you dye it or add it to your dye pot. Mordants such as copper and iron will also alter the color of your dye. For example, using only one marigold dye pot, you can dye one piece of linen a beautiful shade of yellow. Then after adding the appropriate amount of iron to the marigold dye bath, you can dye a second piece of linen olive green!
Some dye stuffs (avocados, onion skins, and black walnuts) contain tannins, which act as mordants. This means you can skip this step altogether unless you want to change the color. Always use precautions when working with both dye powders and mordants so as not to inhale them. Some mordants may irritate sensitive skin.
alum—Alum is one of the easier mordants to use and should always be added to a cup of warm water to dissolve before being added to a dye pot. Pairing it with cream of tartar can help brighten the overall color. Too much alum can affect the softness of your wool, so don’t get crazy with it. Try 2.5 – 3 tbsp of alum and 1 tbsp of cream of tartar.
copper—Copper is usually used to dull or darken your colors.
iron—Iron can also darken and change your colors. Use it to get greens, greys, or browns.
white vinegar—I used white vinegar to brighten my turmeric dye, and it changed it from a bold orange to a bold yellow. I also tried using it to see if it would brighten the blush in my avocado dye pot, but it faded the color instead. The moral of this story is that one mordant won’t do the same thing to every single dye. No, that would be too simple! Lesson learned.
I used 100% linen to test all of my colors because I wanted something consistent. Linen is a cellulose (plant) fiber and took all of the colors well, although some dyes needed mordants and others didn’t. Wool and silk (protein fibers) accept dyes best. Plant fibers (cotton and linen) need a mordant or a dye with natural tannins (avocados, onion skins, or black walnuts).
All fibers should be scoured prior to dyeing for the best results. Scouring is the process of removing oils or chemicals occurring in nature or through the manufacturing process. You can scour linen and cotton using hot water and a pH neutral laundry detergent in your washing machine, or scent-free dish soap in a pot on the stove top. However, you will want to scour wool in a pot on a stove so you don’t accidentally felt it.
Once a pot or tool has been used to dye something, it is no longer food safe. So be sure you’re not using your fancy stuff! I always look for large stainless steel pots at thrift stores and garage sales and have a separate place in my kitchen for everything so it isn’t accidentally pulled out at dinnertime. Copper and aluminum pots should be avoided as they will act as natural mordants throughout the dye process. So, unless you’re wanting to use them to alter the specific color of your dye, stick to stainless steel. You can also store excess dye for later use as long as you strain all of the dye bits out of it and refrigerate it.
stainless steel pot(s)
stainless steel tongs
clothesline or drying rack
colander
measuring spoons
mason jar(s) with lids for storing unused dye
So, you have gathered your linen and are ready to make a set of cloth napkins! Here’s the rundown:
Step One: Wash 1 yd of 100% linen in your washing machine with a pH neutral detergent in warm to hot water or heat it in a pot of water and unscented dish soap until it’s boiling. Simmer for an hour and let cool. Rinse with cool water. Add it while it’s wet to your empty dye pot.
Step Two: Prepare your dye pot by filling your stainless steel pot with enough cool, filtered water to cover your 1 yd. of linen fabric. Add your dye stuffs to your pot and bring it to a simmer. You don’t want it to boil as it will muddle your color. Let it simmer for 45-60 minutes before turning off your heat and letting it cool. The longer you leave your linen in your dye pot, the stronger the color may become. Understand that the color you see when wet may be slightly darker than the color of your linen when dry.
Step Three: Let your linen air dry in a shady spot before rinsing it in cool water. Feel free to wash and dry as usual. Linen will obviously get softer with each wash cycle.
Step Four: Cut and sew your fabric into linen napkins by double-folding the edges and stitching along the inner fold.
There’s something intrinsically special about using plants to dye your own fabric. It connects you to the process of designing your own clothes and home goods in a way that gives you more respect and curiosity for the materials used and the process itself. Whether you’re interested in natural dyes as an alternative to synthetic ones or are just curious about all of the colors you can find in your own backyard, you are sure to get hooked!
Dyeing with indigo is an altogether different process than the ones described above. You can find my tutorial for working with pre-reduced indigo and creating a beautiful pattern using shibori techniques here. Looking for something much simpler? Check out this faux-indigo technique shared in this tutorial, and then make your own dyed cloth napkins using this tutorial. –Rachel
Credits//Author: Rachel Denbow. Photography: Rachel and Janae Hardy. Photos edited with the New A Beautiful Mess actions.
34 Comments
These colours are all so pretty! x
Izzy |https://pinchofdelight.wordpress.com
Wow, this is so interesting! I don’t know how I’ve never heard of natural dyes before, but they sound awesome! Especially love that you can use the avocado pits for that light pink color. <3
http://www.wonderlandsam.com
I’m so impressed by the vibrancy of the colours you were able to produce!
– Natalie
http://www.workovereasy.com
The last picture with the cascading flower petals is incredible. Thanks for the great tips and info!!
– Katie
https://thebippityboppitybeautifulblog.wordpress.com
These are all so pretty! I love natural dyes.
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
These colors are gorgeous!
http://www.petiteandhungry.com
What a great resource. Thank you!
The colours are so vibrant! Never thought natural dyes would work so well – I’ve only used the store-bought ones. Best of all, the ingredients can just be found at home!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
This is such a great idea!
A friend of my Stepmom’s also loves to experiment with natural ingredients to use as dye. Sadly, not many of the items you used seem to be available in Indonesia—or at least where I live. I’ll try this out sometimes and create something out of it.
Thank you for the inspiration!
Alive as Always
The results look extraordinary, the shades are so beautiful (especially that bright pink one)!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
I love this! Now my kitchen is going to be taken over by natural dye projects. Sorry husband ??
All of them are so beautifully vibrant <3
Beautiful! Love the colours! Do you think I could try with yarn too? I’d love to dye my own yarn ^^
Love this! Now I’m totally inspired to try more natural dying! I love how everything is laid out and well organized. I totally feel like I could do this. Thanks again!
Absolutely! There’s a whole industry built around hand-dyed yarns! I didn’t go into it as I haven’t experimented with yarns as much but the books I mentioned in the post all have more info on naturally dyeing yarn. -Rachel
This is amazing! Thanks so much for sharing! I want to try this with my daughter…so fun!
I love all of the pretty colors you ended up with!
So beautiful! Very impressive.
Might it be possible to identify the ingredient/s used for each color in the 3 photos of swatches?
Wow, I love dying! Thank you for this post! It’s so useful and I’m definitely going to try it out soon.
Great post! Thank you! I will print and keep with my The Natural Dyer book. One question…by chance my son brought me some black walnuts (In their
Shells!) how do you use them, cracked, whole? Okay, Two questions, dry black beans…mordant or no mordant? I’m “dyeing” to know! Today, I will try my hand with Avocado pits, I’ve been freezing, then skins. Yeah…love the peachy pink! Thanks again!
Hey! You put the black walnuts in with their hulls on (the green outer). I haven’t tried without the hulls but it may still be possible…just with a different color?
I haven’t tried black beans yet so I would see if there’s any info in The Natural Dyer about them.
The avocados are going to be so fun to work with! Best of luck!
-Rachel
This is one of the most beautiful posts I have ever seen on natural dyeing! Really! Well done!
Wow thanks for sharing this, it’s very useful! Now I know what to do with all those old avocados!!
When it comes to dyeing fabrics or any works that requiring the use of dyes, natural dyes are highly recommended to use. Unlike synthetic dyes, natural dyes are more eco-friendly given that they come from natural resources and more reliable as well. Aside from that, it’s safer for human health because of its chemical free composition, that’s why many people are choosing it over synthetic dyes. Anyway, I have just begun experimenting with yarn dyeing. The first time I tried dyeing with madder root, it came out the weird orange-yellow. But it’s still good 🙂
Lovely feature and beautiful colours. To learn more visit http://www.NaturalFabricDyeing.com
What did you use for the vibrant RED color? I’ve experimented with a few natural dyes but a true RED as shown in your article is difficult – would love to know what you used and with or without a mordant? Thanks for any info you can provide!
I loved coming across your info here because you’ve actually done some experimenting rather than just reporting things that you’ve researched. 🙂 I was wondering . . . what part of the marigolds and goldenrods did you use? Flowers, just petals, leaves, or the whole plant? Thanks!
can you tell me why the cloth has to be wet before u put in the dye pot
Sooo Beautiful! Would love to know what plants you used in the last picture, the second and third color are just perfect!!! I wonder if they would turn out the same on raw silk 🙂
if you can get fabric ” prepared for dyeing” pfd , does natural dyeing still require a mordant?
Wow, these are so pretty! Great effort and excellent documentation. Kudos!
Arjun | Managing Partner
https://swagswami.com
Add pickleing lime to the turmeric and it will change it to rust red
I have read (including in Sasha Duerr’s book) that you can do an all-on-one technique of combining mordant plus dye in the same pot. I haven’t been able to find much information about this. Does it work as well as the traditional method? What are the negatives and positives of this technique versus mordanting first, then dyeing?
be careful with alum, I’ve heard some not good things about it health-wise.