How to make natural dyes for fabric – a few beautiful and colorful experiments

Learn how to make natural dyes for fabric using ingredients that you already have around! Have fun experimenting with all those different and crazy combinations to get beautiful colors and shades!

This was actually the first project I made this year and was something that I did one night … when I just couldn’t sleep! :) I don’t know how I ended up doing this project, I didn’t specifically planned it in any way but somehow I felt inspired to do it! My thoughts at the beginning of the year were to just let things come my way and to be more open to experimenting with new things, to step out of my comfort zone and to try not to make everything ‘too perfect’. To enjoy the journey more and not to stress so much about controlling every single detail, every single time.

That night, I found a similar project on Pinterest (where else) that was using avocado skin and pit to dye fabric! And I remember thinking – ‘There is no way avocado can give you that amazing color!’ And right there and then, I just knew – I needed to conduct my own experiments!:)

So I basically had no plan, just a few pieces of scrap fabric that I’ve been saving for a while. The fabric was completely white and was actually a scrap piece from a sheer cotton scarf that I partially used when making my DIY No Sew Fabric Pumpkins.  I just love when I get the chance to give a new (colorful – in this case) life to an old object, don’t you? :)

P.S. Can you guess what natural dyes for fabric I created just by looking at the image below?

I managed to tear the fabric that I’ve been saving in several larger pieces (around 30 x 40 cm) but I decided to also tear a few more smaller pieces. I wanted to be able to test the natural dyes first, but also to further experiment with new color combos. I would really encourage you to do that too, it’s always best to have a few smaller pieces for testing first.

I don’t actually have step by step images this time, like I usually do when sharing my projects, but you will see the whole process is actually easier than it seems!

The most important rules are to have fun and just enjoy the whole experiment! :)

Preparing the fabric for dyeing – pre-treating the fabric

To prepare your fabric for dyeing, the general rule is that fabric needs to be wet when added to the dye, so make sure you don’t skip this step. If your fabric is new, you might also need to wash it, but make sure you don’t dry it afterwards, the fabric needs to be wet!

From what I’ve read online, natural dyes have a hard time binding to fabric on their own, so you’ll need mordants or fixatives to make sure your color stays on, even after washing the fabric. OK, this part is definitely the trickiest part, because there are quite a few options and variations depending on what type of fabric you are using and what you are actually turning into dyes.

What I found useful was this article from Beaker Life and this article from Gardening know how that mentioned either a salt or vinegar mixture can be used as fixative to avoid the fading of color over time.

• Salt fixative: for fruit dyes – use ¼ cup salt and 4 cups of water (multiply as needed)
• Vinegar fixative: for vegetable and plant dyes – use 1 cup vinegar and 4 cups water (multiply as needed)

The fabric should be boiled for about 1 hour before dyeing using either one of these fixatives and then rinsed with cold water.

Because I only wanted to use my scrap pieces of fabric as props for my photography, I have to confess I didn’t stress too much about this part. Especially when I wanted to prepare the vinegar fixative and just realized I only had a small amount of vinegar left! I hate when that happens! :) So I improvised and just worked with what I had! If you are simply experimenting and having fun, like I did, you shouldn’t stress about that part either. You won’t get perfect results, but then again, we are not looking for perfection here, right? :) Of course, if you want to dye your favorite dress or your blouse, I would definitely suggest going into more research, taking into consideration your specific type of fabric and your specific dye.

So what I ended up using as my fixative was a mixture of about 1/4 cup vinegar and 4 cups water.

Preparing the natural dyes for fabric

While your fabric is nicely simmering with the fixative on the stove, you will need to use another pot to prepare your natural dye! As general rules, you will need to use 1 part produce to 2 parts water, then simmer them for about 1 hour. If you are using spices, start with 1 or 2 teaspoons for every two cups of water and go from there.

Use these rules as guiding rules, if you wish, but please don’t be afraid to experiment and try other variations too. Depending on what type of produce you are using, this can give you a more intense or faded dye color. You can do a test with some of the fabric after simmering the dyeing mixture for about 1 hour and see if you love the results. If you feel your dye is already too intense, you can add more water to dilute it. If it’s too faded, you can simmer it for a bit (or a lot) longer and do the fabric test again. When you are happy with the color, strain and discard the produce, your natural dye is ready to be used!

How to actually dye fabric

So you have on your stove the fixative mixture that has been simmering with the fabric for 1 hour and in another pot (or other several pots, with different produce) the dyeing mixture that has also been simmering for 1 hour (ideally).

Now it’s time to discard the produce from your dyeing mixture pot and strain the colored liquid, adding it back to the pot afterwards. Rinse your fabric with cold water, wring it but don’t dry it and add it to the dyeing mixture while it is still wet. The fabric should be fully submerged in the dye and if you want to get an even color, you should stir the fabric quite often while simmering your pot on the stove.
This is when the fun and the experimenting part finally begins! :) You can play with different times to get different results, the more you let your fabric simmer with your dye, the more intense the color will be. I would really encourage you to write everything down, it would be such a shame to find THE PERFECT color and never remember how you got there, right? :) I actually used my phone (the Google Keep app) to write all the steps down, the ingredients and the simmering times. This way I can always go back and revisit my old experiments. This is especially helpful if you want to recreate a specific color in the future and expect getting similar results.

The simmering time can go from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on how fast you achieve the color that you want! Just keep in mind that the fabric will loose some of its color when rinsing it afterwards and the color will fade a little after your fabric will dry completely.   

The way you hang your fabric to dry is also important, try not to have too many wrinkles if you want an even color.

What you can use to make the natural dyes for fabric

1. AVOCADO SKINS AND PITS TO GET BLUSH PINK 

Let’s just start with avocado, which was actually the one that got me started on this project in the first place! My favorite by far and I could definitely name it my revelation for this whole experiment because I would have NEVER thought avocado can give you such stunning colors! When using avocado as a natural dye for fabric you will get this surreal blush color, with shades of pink, peach or brown.

I prepared the avocado natural dye for fabric by simmering both the skins and the pits in the same pot, but you can also experiment and make two separate avocado natural dyes for fabric – one with the skins and one with the pits only.

Make sure you scrape and remove all the flesh from the skins and the pits before making the dye. If you don’t have enough avocados to make the dye, you can save the skins and the pits in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

I used the skins and pits from 2 avocados and 1 l (about 4 cups) of water.
I simmered them for about 1 hour, over low heat, then I strained and discarded the avocados.
I added 2 larger scrap pieces of fabric and a few smaller ones (all were pre-treated with the vinegar fixative) into the pot and simmered them for about 20 min. I removed one of the pieces of fabric and let the other ones simmer for another 20 minutes or so.

Remember, the longer you simmer your fabric with your natural dye, the darker the color will be.

Do not discard the avocado dye just yet, you might want to dye the fabric again, to get a more intense color or even use it on other pieces of scrap fabric to make other small accessories. Just save it in a jar with a lid in your fridge until needed.

After rinsing the 20 minutes piece of fabric with cold water, I let it dry completely and got this beautiful pastel blush with pink shades (the lighter color that you see in the above/below pictures).
After rinsing the 40 minutes piece of fabric with cold water, I let this one dry completely too and got a more intense blush with brown shades (the darker color that you see in the above/below pictures).

2. TURMERIC POWDER TO GET YELLOW

I simply love using turmeric when cooking (remember my Golden Milk Turmeric Latte?), but I’m always so stressed not to stain everything around. Turmeric stains like crazy if you are not careful, but for this specific experiment, that can only be a good thing, right? :) We are actually harnessing all its amazing super powers to create the most amazing shades of yellow!

I used 1 tsp turmeric powder and 1 l (about 4 cups) of water to make the dye and I let them simmer for about 15 minutes.
I added the wet pre-treated fabric and I only let it simmer for about 5 minutes, because I liked the lighter color I was already getting. After rinsing the fabric in cold water and after it was completely dry, I got this beautiful light happy yellow (the lighter color from the picture).
For the second piece of fabric I added more turmeric powder (I added a total of  5 tsp of turmeric powder) and after simmering it for about 15 minutes, then rinsing and drying, I got this amazing darker Indian yellow color, with a few touches of orange here and there.

3. HIBISCUS TEA TO GET PINK-MAGENTA OR PURPLE-BLUE

Hibiscus is currently my first choice when it comes to making AH-MAZING teas and flavoring Kombucha and I decided to play around a little just to see what it can do when it comes to dyeing fabric.

I used 2 Tbsp dried hibiscus flowers and 1/2 l (about 2 cups) of water, simmered everything for about 20 minutes, then I strained and discarded the flowers. I added the wet pre-treated fabric to the pot and simmered it for about 30 minutes.

I got the most amazing reddish pink magenta color in the pot and I was over the moon! But when I rinsed the fabric like I did before with the other dyes, my beautiful pink-magenta turned into a purple-blue, totally different than the original wet color. I added the fabric back to the pot, simmered it for another 10 minutes, got the same pink-magenta before rinsing and the purple-blue after rinsing. I have no idea what might have happened, it could have been something related with the PH of our water, or maybe I just needed to simmer the fabric with the dye for a longer period of time, I don’t know. But because I loved the pink-magenta better, I decided not to rinse the fabric after dyeing it, to try and preserve the initial color. It worked! :)

Below you can see the both colors – the stunning pink-magenta I got without rinsing the fabric and the purple-blue I got after rinsing the fabric.
When you first see them you might think like they have nothing in common, right? But they are practically starting from the same color!

4. RED CABBAGE TO MAKE BLUE

For the purple cabbage dye I used 2 cups roughly chopped cabbage and 1 l (about 4 cups) of water.
I simmered over low heat for about 1 h, then strained and discarded the cabbage leaves.
Because I ran out of pre treated fabric, I used only wet fabric, one that was not treated in any way. Then I simmered the fabric with the dye for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally and after rinsing and drying I got a beautiful pastel blue. From all the colors I got, this one was definitely the most faded one, but I liked it nonetheless.

In the picture below the red cabbage dyed fabric is the larger one and not the ribbon.

At this point I started to feel really excited, I just loved the colors! It felt like I was walking in a chic bazaar in some exotic country surrounded by millions of  colors everywhere ;)

As you can see, I had so much fun experimenting and playing with all these amazing natural dyes for fabric! I feel like an amazing new world just opened up for me and I’m pretty sure I will conduct a few more experiments, because guess what? This stuff is highly addictive!:)

The colors looked amazing on their own, but also paired with other colors, there are so many color combos one can try! :)

I will show you soon how you can actually use your new beautifully dyed fabric as props to style your images, they can add so much interest!

You can even mix the natural dyes for fabric to get new colors, just remember to write everything down in case you want to replicate your experiments! For example, I mixed a little bit of turmeric dye (yellow) with the red cabbage dye (blue) and got the yellowish green in the middle (the image below). I could have used other different proportions of these colors to get more and more shades and even new different colors. You can also add a little bit of vinegar or baking soda to the actual dye to change its PH and sometimes even the color! The sky is the limit!

P.S. You can also follow my DIY Beauty and Natural Living board on Pinterest, I will be saving more about the naturally dyeing process there.

Now that was a long post, but it was really fun, right? :) I hope I managed to convince you to try experimenting with natural dyes for fabric on your own!

And just one more think before I go, a reminder, if you wish.
Please, pleaseee, don’t throw away your natural dyes for fabric, because I also have a few experiments conducted on … paper! :) And I bet they would also look good on wood! :) And now I’m thinking Easter eggs! :) Just keep each dye in a sealed jar in your fridge and use when needed! I saved the avocado, turmeric and hibiscus dyes for further use, can’t wait to show you next how amazing they look on paper!

These are all the natural dyes for fabric that I tried so far, but you can have fun and experiment with other ingredients too!

Would love to hear your thoughts, have you ever used the natural dyes for fabric? Or would you love to try them?

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Don’t forget to smile,
Diana

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