Natural Dyes

Saving this link for myself!

Per Anjou:

1. Pre-wash and pre-soak your fabric. It is best to use 100% natural fabrics that are undyed. I have recently fallen in love with China silk habotai because it’s elegant and billowy without the price pitfall of crepe de chine.

2. Chop up your food source into little tiny bits (but not so tiny that they can’t be strained out). For onions and plums, use only the skins

3. Prepare the water base in a large pot: add the water in a 2:1 ratio of water to food source (so if you have 2 cups of chopped bits, add 4 cups of water)

4. Boil the mixture for approximately an hour

5. Strain out food source and return liquid dye to pot

6. Add salt or vinegar, depending on the food source, to the water and mix. For fruits and vegetables, add 1/2 cup of salt to every 8 cups of water. For plant material, add 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water). Salt and vinegar act as fixatives for the dye.

7. Add your pre-soaked fabric to the dye, stirring thoroughly, and bring up to a boil

8. Depending on how dark you would like the dyed fabric to be, boil your fabric in the dye for any length of time up to about an hour and a half. At that point, your dye is probably exhausted.

9. Hand wash your fabric in cold water and organic detergent at least twice to ensure that all of the dye and fixative are out of the fabric, rinse, and hang dry or lay flat.