NATURAL PLANT-BASED DYES

NATURAL PLANT-BASED DYES

  • It is quite easy to color cloth using natural dyes that you make yourself.
    You can use any of the plants listed below, or experiment and discover your own plant dyes.
    You will need at least one ounce of dried herb for each pound of fabric weight,
    depending on the intensity of hue you want to achieve.

  • To dye the cloth, bring the dried plant material to a low, rolling boil in 3 to 4 gallons of water.
    Strain, and add 1/2 cup of iodized salt.
    Continue to boil for 20-30 minutes.
    Now add the cloth, stirring gently with a wood spoon or stick to make certain that the cloth is evenly wetted.
    Turn off the heat or remove the pot from the fire.
    Allow the cloak to remain in the mixture until it cools.
    Rinse gently and briefly in one change of COLD water.
    Do not rinse again.
    Hang the cloth and allow it to air dry.
    Do NOT put it in the clothes dryer!

    LIST OF PLANT DYES BY COLOR

    BLUE
    Cornflower
    Dog's Mercury
    Hollyhock
    Indigo
    Mesquite
    Woad

    BROWN
    Bird's Tongue
    Black Gum
    Canoe Birch
    Cotton
    Heather
    White Oak
    Juniper

    GOLD
    Black Oak
    Dyers's Chamomille
    Goldenrod
    Lily of the Valley
    Osage-Orange

    GRAY
    Bearberry
    Blackberry
    Bracken
    Red Maple
    Rowan
    Butternut

    GREEN
    Bearberry
    Beard grass
    Coltsfoot
    Lady's Mantle
    Nettle
    Onion
    Motherwort
    Scotch Broom
    Fumitory

    ORANGE
    Annatto
    Black Oak
    Henna
    Sumac
    Bloodroot

    PURPLE
    Black elder
    Dandelion
    Pomegranate
    Rose of China
    Tall Field Buttercup
    Yellow Bedstraw

    RED
    Alkanet
    Alpine Cranberry
    Madder
    Poinsetta
    Pokeweed
    Red Alder
    Rue
    Safflower
    Wild Marjoram

    YELLOW
    Almond
    Apple
    Barberry
    Beard Grass
    Goldenrod
    Jewelweed
    Marigold
    Peach
    Sassafrass
    Saffron
    Sundew
    Sunflower