You can use plants to give natural materials bright colors. In the wake of sustainably and ecologically produced textiles, plant dyes are becoming increasingly important again. Maybe you would like to bathe the wool for your winter hat or the silk fabric for your next sewing project in a dye liquor you made yourself and dye it in your favorite shade.
Which plants are suitable for dyeing?
Around 150 dyeing plants are suitable for dyeing with plants, such as birch, nettle, oak, safflower, safflower, woad, madder, delphinium, hollyhock, walnut and onion. The shades achieved vary from yellow, green, blue, turquoise, red, orange, gray to brown.
Which plants are suitable for dyeing
Dyeing plants contain dyes that bond stably with the fibers and are therefore washable and lightfast. One of the best-known is probably indigo, which gave jeans their typical blue color until around 1900.
There are around 150 dye plants worldwide, some of which are still cultivated commercially today. Below is a list of the most common native plants:
| Plant name | Characteristics | Achieved shade |
|---|---|---|
| Birch | Pioneer tree with characteristic white bark. The dye is in the leaves. | Bright yellow. Further development to olive green by adding iron sulfate. |
| Stinging Nettle | Valuable food for insects and he althy wild vegetables. | Bright yellow |
| Oak | Very commonly used tanning drug. The bark is used. | Brown |
| Safflower | Annual flowering plant with conspicuous spines. The petals are used. | Red orange, golden yellow, brown yellow. |
| Borse | Butterfly plant, which was previously specifically cultivated as a dye plant. | Yellow |
| Woad | It used to be grown on a large scale. Alternative to indigo. Addition of washing soda required for a lasting color result. | Turquoise, blue |
| Madder | Is specifically cultivated as a dye plant. Coloring is done with the chopped roots. | Brick red, rust red, rust brown |
| larkspur | Popular flowering perennial in the cottage garden. The flowers are used. | Lime green, green-yellow |
| Hollyhock, black | Herbaceous mallow. Grows one to two meters tall and is a valued ornamental plant. The flowers are used. | Silver gray, green gray |
| Walnut | No stain is required. The soft shells that sit above the nut are used. | Dark brown, copper brown, beige brown |
| Onion | Important vegetable and aromatic plant. The shells are used for dyeing. | Copper, yellow |
Dyeing with woad is particularly interesting, as the inserted materials initially turn yellow-brown. Only through contact with oxygen can you “experience your blue miracle”. The fabrics change their tone to medium blue through the interaction of air and light.
Procedure
- So that the plant dyes adhere permanently to the fabrics, they must be stained with alum (€14.00 on Amazon) and/or cream of tartar.
- Tie the plants in a dye cloth and boil them.
- Then place the dye and cook it in the dye liquor for one to two hours.
- Important with wool: Do not stir so that the material does not felt.
- Take the material out of the brew and hang it to air dry.
- In the last step, the colors are fixed with acid (vinegar essence).
Tip
You can collect dye plants in the wild or grow them specifically in the garden. Most of these plants are undemanding and thrive in almost any soil. Exotic dye plants such as redwood, cochineal or indigo are available from specialist retailers.
