Tutorial: Dyeing With Natural Dyes

Today’s salon is a tutorial on dyeing with plant dyes. All dyes from natural sources are gentle on the environment, as the used dye can be disposed of down any drain without concern for chemicals leaching into pipes or water resources. Plants and soils have provided color to fabric for thousands of years and nothing can surpass the rich tones that nature has given us

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Today’s dye is from Cutch, which is the heartwood of the Acacia catechu tree, that is found in parts of India and Burma. Most hand dyeing is used on yarns before weaving. However, we use purchased fabric because our use is not for weaving purposes. The fiber of the cloth on which the plant dye is used, along with natural mineral additives like iron, will determine the final color. We are using an organic cotton muslin that, because it was a grey-good or unbleached right off the loom, must be scoured and bleached before dyeing. Bleached fabric can be purchased, in which case these two steps are eliminated.

This picture shows our scoured and bleached piece of fabric next to the grey-good piece, so you can see how bright and white our piece is before dyeing.

 Our dyeing set-up is in the garage with a large stainless steel kettle and single burner.

 Scouring removes all of the impurities and oil that are natural to a plant fiber, but can effect color addition. The cotton is immersed into scouring liquid and soda ash that have been added to hot water in our kettle. (For detailed instructions, follow directions from your dye vendor). After that bath is completed and the fabric is thoroughly rinsed, bleach the fabric with your solution of choice, and dry in the sun.

Your fabric is now ready for mordanting. Mordant is the natural fixative that allows the dye to bond to the fiber permanently, do that colors don’t run the first time that beautiful shirt is washed. Mordants come from natural mineral sources, depending on the fiber that is used in the fabric. For cotton, alum acetate is used and after mordanting, the fabric may be kept damp in a zip-loc bag until ready to die. (For detailed mordanting instructions, follow directions from your dye vendor).

Now for the fun part: dyeing! Natural dyes come in either dried plant for or powdered form. We’re using the powder which must be weighed in exact measurement for the depth of color that we want. All amounts of dye prep solutions and dyes themselves are determined by the dry weight of fabric, or WOF, so all fabric must be weighed before it’s immersed into any liquid. A scale that will show less than a gram is required because very small amounts of dye are generally used. We want a light Cutch, so we’re measuring the amount of dye required for the dry weight of our fabric and a light hue.

 A small amount of boiling water is mixed with the dye before the dye is added to the kettle of water that has reached 100° F. Stir the dye into the bath.

 Add the damp mordanted cloth into the dye bath and stir constantly until the temperature (using an immersion thermometer) reaches the recommended heat level. The fabric needs to be continuously moved in the dye bath to ensure even color absorption, so this is where a chair and good book come into play! Stirring fabric can take up to an hour after the water temperature has reached its required heat.

 At the end of the dyeing process, turn off the heat source and allow the fabric to cool in the dye bath for several hours or overnight. Then wash in warm water and mild soap, and allow to dry out of the sun.

Your beautiful fabric is ready to iron and use! I keep it rolled prior to cutting so that I don’t have to iron out wrinkles once again. Although hand dyeing is a labor intensive process, like all creative endeavors, it’s fun and tremendously satisfying to combine dyes or add a mineral to create your very own color that has never existed exactly like that anywhere else!

The Cutch dye, scouring, and mordanting powders were purchased from Earthues^TM www.earthues.com.