Category Archives: Natural Dyeing & Printing

Black, Purple, And Rust-Colored Dye Samples

Common bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) natural dye
Common bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus)

Here are some more dye samples I’ve made. The first is common bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) on cotton fabric and silk fabric. To get this dark purple color, it’s necessary to use common bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) with dark red flesh; blueberries (Vaccinium cyanococcus) with white flesh don’t work. The fabrics aren’t mordanted. Continue reading Black, Purple, And Rust-Colored Dye Samples

How To Make DIY Iron Liquor Mordant For Natural Dyeing

how to make DIY iron liquor mordant for natural dyeing

DIY iron liquor mordant is very useful: as mordant before you dye fabric with natural dyes, to weather wood and dye leather black naturally. Iron liquor is easy to make at home and really cheap. In this tutorial I show you how to make DIY iron mordant using things you probably have at home! Continue reading How To Make DIY Iron Liquor Mordant For Natural Dyeing

How To Dye Cotton Blue With Red Cabbage (DIY Iron Mordant, Cold Method)

How To Dye Cotton Fabric Blue With Red Cabbage Tutorial

It’s not easy to dye cotton fabric a washfast and lightfast blue with natural dyes (except with indigo and woad).

After reading that iron in the soil makes hydrangea flowers more blue, I wondered if iron mordant could help to fix the blue color to cotton fabric. And after some experiments with different mordants and modifiers and various natural blue dye materials, I’ve finally found out that red cabbage dye + iron mordant produces a beautiful washfast and lightfast blue! Yay!

Related: 9 FAQs About Dyeing Cotton Blue With Red Cabbage

So in this tutorial I’ll show how to dye cotton and viscose rayon fabric blue with red cabbage and DIY iron mordant. Continue reading How To Dye Cotton Blue With Red Cabbage (DIY Iron Mordant, Cold Method)