Natural dyeing – cotton

Steps to dye cotton

1. Scour fabric

  • Fill large pot so that cloth are covered and not crowded
  • For each 450g (1 pound) of goods add 10ml (2 tsp) Synthrapol and 20g (4 tsp) soda ash
  • Simmer for one hour. Water will turn slight yellow.
  • Allow fiber to cool down slowly and then rinse
  • Use washing machine to rinse more and spin

2. Apply tannin

  • Disolve 10-20% WOF in hot water in small bowl
  • Put hot water in container (or pot), water at 120F - 140F
  • Add tannin solution and stir
  • Add wet fibers and soak for 1 to 2 hours (can go up do 24 hours), stirring occasionally
  • Put cover on to keep the warm water
  • Gently rinse and wring (or spin in machine). Do not allow fiber to dry and do mordant.

3. Apply mordant

  • Add wet fibers to pot
  • Disolve alum at 15% WOF in hot water in small container
  • Add alum solution to pot
  • Cover fibers with hot water 120F - 140F
  • Cover pot and let soak for 1 to 2 hours. If outside, keep warm (no boil) on the burner.
  • Use to dye immediately or dry for later use

4. Dye fabric

  • Measure your dye
  • Add tap hot water to your pot (enough so fiber can move freely)
  • Add dyestuff to the pot
  • Add wetted, scoured, mordanted fibers to pot
  • Bring heat up slowly (no higher than 200F for cotton), also according to type of dye
  • Most dyes require that the temperature be held for one hour. During this time, the material should be stirred gently.
  • Turn off the heat and allow the dyebath to cool slowly.
  • Some colors will benefit from staying in the dyebath overnight (except all yellows and logwood)
  • Remove fiber from dyebath and rinse gently in cool water. Hang out to dry out of sunlight.

Madder color (with madder root powder)

  • dye at 35% to 100% WOF (for a medium to dark red)
  • if water too soft, add a Tum's tablet (for brighter red)
  • Add dye powder to water and bring to 140F. Hold for an hour.
  • Add fibers and continue cooking for another 1-2 hours.
  • Do not let water go over 160F (color will turn brown).
  • Dyebath can be reused two or three times for lighter shades.

Logwood (gives red-purple to orchid blue)

  • Do a tannin bath at 8% WOF, then aluminum acetate bath at 8% WOF
  • Dye with logwood chips at 10% to 15% WOF (for a medium to dark red/purple)
  • Pour enough boiling water over the logwood to make a dyebath and soak overnight.
  • Pour off this liquid and use for the first (and strongest) dyebath.
  • Logwood develops best in slightly hard water. Adding finely ground chalk (or a Tum’s tablet) brightens the logwood colour
  • Simmer fibres for about one hour, keeping the temperature between 170-180ºF.
  • If a darker colour is required leave fibres in dyebath overnight.
  • The logwood chips can be soaked again and the liquid used for lighter shades.