Dyeing Fabric with Culinary Herbs

(Page 5 of 5)

August/September 2004
By Susan M. Strawn 
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With a wooden spoon or tongs, gently remove and set aside the fiber from one jar on paper toweling. Calculate and measure 1 to 2 teaspoons ammonia, add to that jar and stir. This amount is not critical; see if this amount brightens the color sufficiently. Replace the fiber and continue to simmer 10 minutes longer.

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Gently remove fiber and rinse in tap water, progressing from very warm to room temperature water, until no color runs from the fiber. Lay flat on paper toweling or drape on a drying rack until dry. Pin or tie labels onto each piece of fabric or yarn.

Using your Naturally Dyed Fabric or Yarn

I dyed small skeins of wool yarn to knit into socks with various patterns and fine stripes. You can use dyed wool fabric to piece a quilted wall hanging. Or dye fine yarn for embroidery. Experiment with tie-dye or other resist techniques to create surface designs on fabric. Similarly, tie skeins with rubber bands or in tight knots before dyeing to achieve space-dyed effects. Try dipping portions of fabric or yarn into the ammonia dye bath for additional variations. You also can over-dye fabric or yarn that has been commercially dyed. Whatever you choose, the colors will harmonize naturally because all are derived from a single source of dye, rosemary.

Further Reading

The Art and Craft of Natural Dyeing (The University of Tennessee Press, 1990) by J.N. Liles
Dye Plants and Dyeing (see Bookshelf, Page 54) by John and Margaret Cannon
Indigo, Madder & Marigold (Interweave Press, 1993) by T. Van Stralen
The Thames and Hudson Manual of Dyes and Fabrics (Thames and Hudson, 1992) by J. Storey
Wild Color (Watson-Guptill Publications, 1999) by Jenny Dean

Susan Strawn dyes her wool in Ames, Iowa, where she is a Ph.D. candidate in textiles and clothing at Iowa State University. She studies and writes about historic and ethnographic textiles. Before returning for graduate studies, she was an artist for Interweave Press in Loveland, Colorado.
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