Will it dye?
Experiments in Natural Dyeing
I started using natural dyes in late 2021. And, because I love learning how things are made, I started my own dye garden in the spring of 2023, choosing 6 plants known to produce good color – cosmos, coreopsis, marigold, madder, indigo, and Hopi dye sunflower. In the process of using my self-grown materials, I became curious about the other plants in our yard. Would they produce color?
More questions arose as I dyed fabric and yarn. What effect does my tap water (hard ground water) have on color? How do my grown/found/foraged materials differ from those I buy online? What can you do with fresh flowers and leaves that you can’t with dried? How lightfast are my materials? What effects do mordants and modifiers have on color? How does temperature or duration in the dye bath affect the end result?
Will it dye? is a space for me to document and share my findings. Read about how I prepare and document my fabrics below. See all blog posts about my results or follow Will it dye? on Instagram.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you prepare your fabrics?
Unless otherwise noted, here is my usual prep:
Cotton: Scour with Synthropol, tannin with ground gallnut at 12%, mordant with alum at 15% and soda ash at 2%
Silk: Scour with Orvus paste, mordant with alum at 15%
The mordant test strips have stripes of alum and iron mordant paste at varying proportions. From bright to dark: 100% alum, 95% alum/5% iron, 90% alum/10% iron, 80% alum/20% iron, 50% alum/50% iron, 100% iron.
How do you dye your fabrics?
WOF of dye materials will depend on what’s on hand and what I’m testing – I’ll include it if I have it!
Unless otherwise noted, I generally simmer raw materials for 20-30 minutes in a stainless steel pot to extract color, then bring the dye bath to a boil using an electric burner. I turn off the burner and add my fabric, making sure it’s completely submerged. I try to rotate the fabric every 15 minutes for an hour.
I often use the same dye baths repeatedly to exhaust the color. That entails adding new fabric and then repeating the procedure (heat until boiling, turn off the burner, try to rotate every 15 minutes for an hour).
What fabrics do you use?
Whatever I have on hand. This might include:
Combed cotton from Dharma Trading Co.
Premium Muslin from Joann Fabrics
Silk scraps from Dharma Trading Co. (I got a grab bag of these and don’t always know what type/weight of silk these are, sorry!)
If I use these materials, will I get the same colors?
Maybe! It will depend on many factors: the substrates you use, how you prepare your fabrics, how you extract the dye, your raw materials and their growing conditions, your water, etc. Natural dyes are variable – and that’s part of their appeal.
Where can I learn more about natural dyeing?
I regularly turn to these resources for knowledge and inspiration:
Maiwa School of Textiles (I’ve taken all their online classes and highly recommend them!) and their NaturalDyes.ca
How can I participate?
Test plants in your vicinity and share the results. Give as much information as possible – fabric substrate and preparation, dye materials used, dyeing process, modifiers, etc. If you’re on Instagram, you can use the hashtag #will_it_dye. And I would love to hear about your experiments, so tell me about them!