Experimenting with Natural Dyes Experimenting with Natural Dyes

Make Fabric Dye With Food and Plants

Learn how to make natural dyes you can use for fabric and clothes from household items like food and plants. It’s one thing to know how to dye clothes, and a whole other to know how to dye clothes using your own homemade dyes. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, and more can all be used to create natural dyes for wood, fabrics, and more. They’re a great way to get beautiful results without all the chemicals found in traditional dyes. Also it’s biodegradable and easily disposable so you also don’t have to worry about harming the planet with your dye project.

What Can You Use to Make Natural Dyes?

You have a ton of options when it comes to organic ingredients that can be used to make natural dyes for projects. What you choose depends on what color you’re trying to achieve, as well as what’s available to you. Here are some options for creating different colors of dye:

Red and pink: Fresh beets or powdered beetroot, pomegranates, red and pink rose petals, avocado pits

Orange: Carrots, turmeric, butternut seeds or husk

Yellow: Marigolds, sunflower petals, paprika, celery leaves, onion skins

Green: Spinach, mint leaves, lilacs, artichokes

Indigo: Purple cabbage, blueberries, blackberries, woad, black beans

Other materials that you’ll need include:

A bucket or large stock pot

Gloves

A kitchen stove

Cheesecloth (coffee filters or fabric scraps will work fine too)

Knife

Cutting Board

Time to give dye a try!

Chop up your desired ingredient and add it to a saucepan with enough water to fully cover it. Next, you'll need to add a mordant, which is a substance added to dye to help it bind to the material. Add two to three tablespoons of vinegar or salt as your mordant. Bring the water to a simmer over medium heat and allow to simmer for one hour. The longer you simmer the ingredient, the richer the color will be. Then switch off the heat and allow the water to come to room temperature.

Pour the food dye liquid into a large vessel—either a bucket or one of the stock pots you've been using— and dunk the fabric in it. There should be enough dye so that the fabric can swim around freely; if it's at all bunched up you'll get a tie-dye pattern (which can be cute!). Leave for at least an hour or overnight. Once you're happy with the color, rinse with cold water and dry. The color will lighten somewhat, but it'll stick!

Materials for a Whole New Colorful Look

The shade and saturation level of your dye will vary based on the plant, fruit, or flower that you choose. The process for how to make natural dyes is actually a lot simpler than you might think. And once you master it, you’ll be able to dye clothes using your own homemade products—all with no chemicals in sight.

The first step in how to make natural dyes for fabric is to figure out what organic materials you’re going to use. Most of the time, this will depend on what colors you want to make; however you could also just use what you have around the house and see what colors you can create.

Surprising Things You Can Dye

Pillow cases

Rugs

Wooden vases

Tapestries

Plant hangers

Blankets

Wooden candle holders

Kids blocks & other toys

Towels

Wool baskets

Cloth napkins

Scarves

Table runners

Hairbands

Mittens

Canvas