Craft Natural dyeing
Learn to use your pantry items to create custom dye jobs
While you can use artificial colours to dye a T-shirt, cushion cover or even yarn for your winter knitting, did you know you can also use fruit, vegies and spices?
“Natural dyeing is all about experimentation and playing with colour,” says Felicia Semple, Soul Craft Festival founder and creative director.
“Dyeing with kitchen scraps is a great place to start your experiments. Turmeric, onion skins, red carrots, berries and the dyestuff we are using today, avocados, are often on hand and fun to play with. You can dye any natural material – cotton, silk and wool all work well.”
STEP 1 MAKE YOUR DYE
1 Place your dried dyestuff into a large saucepan and add enough water to ensure your yarn can move freely in the pot after it’s been added.
2 Heat the dyestuff in the water until just boiling. Simmer for one hour. No matter the dyestuff, the process of stove-top dyeing follows a similar path – but feel free to play around with the timing as you see fit.
3 For a stronger colour, turn off the pot and let the dyestuff sit overnight in the water. Strain the dye using a strainer and pour back into the saucepan.
STEP 2 PREPARE YOUR YARN
1 Wind the yarn around your hand and elbow to create a loop. 2 Take a couple of loops of yarn and tie loosely in three places. 3 Place your yarn in the large bowl of water and let it soak for at least 10 minutes. Then take the yarn out and gently squeeze the excess water out of it.
STEP 3 MORDANT YOUR YARN
Mordanting your yarn is a step you need to take when using some natural dyes. A mordant – such as alum powder or cream of tartar – is used to get the yarn surface roughed up, ready to take the colour. A quick web search will tell you whether you need to use a mordant with the dyestuff you have chosen.
You don’t need to mordant the yarn when dyeing with avocados, as they already have tannin in the seeds, which acts as a mordant – so go to the next stage of dyeing your yarn!
STEP 4 DYE THE YARN
1 Place your wet yarn in the dye in the saucepan.
2 Heat the dye to just below boiling and simmer for one hour. If you’re using wool yarn, don’t stir or move the yarn too much when it’s hot, as it will felt. When you’re happy with the colour of your yarn, take it out of the dye and rinse it thoroughly.
3 Dry and use your yarn!