Bundle Dye Fabric With Natural Dyes

  ✂︎

Favorite

Comment

List

       

Share

• 

  Step 1

  You can use any of the following foods or plants to experiment with: flower petals, black turtle beans, beetroot, coffee, tea, logwood, dried onion skins, red cabbage, turmeric, hibiscus. You can use any natural fabric.

• 

  Step 2

  Preparing the fabric so that the dye fixes to the fabric and doesn't fade is called 'mordanting'. You will need to 'mordant' your fabric first, using Alum. You can find Alum mordant online, I got mine from http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/ .

• 

  Step 3

  Weigh your fabric first.

• 

  Step 4

  Wash your fabric, then rinse.

• 

  Step 5

  Pre-wetting: leave the fabric to soak for at least 1 hour, or ideally overnight. This allows the fibres to open up and receive the dye better.

• 

  Step 6

  Take the weight of your fabric and measure out 8% of alum. My fabric weighs 112g, therefore I am using 8.9g of Alum.

• 

  Step 7

  Add a little boiling water to your Alum to dissolve it, then add it to your cooking pot, preferably a non-reactive pot like stainless steel.

• 

  Step 8

  Add enough water to the pot, and then your fabric. Simmer for 1 hour and leave overnight. After this mordanting process, the fabric can be rinsed and dried to use another time, or used immediately in their damp state. If the fabric is dry you will need to pre-wet it again before dyeing.

• 

  Step 9

  Scatter your ingredients onto the damp fabric. I am using grated beetroot, turmeric and black turtle beans.

• 

  Step 10

  Fold down the edges so that the dye covers the edges.

• 

  Step 11

  Roll up the fabric.

• 

  Step 12

  Now you can wrap some string around your bundle, keeping it tight enough that it will hold together but not too tight, so the dye can bleed into the fabric.

• 

  Step 13

  Steam your bundles for 15-20 minutes.

• 

  Step 14

  Lighter fabrics like silk won't take as long and you'll be able to see the colours developing while they steam.

• 

  Step 15

  Now you can unwrap your bundles.

• 

  Step 16

  See what colours you have created. They are safe to wash, although some colours may fade a little.

Comments

Leave your comment