How to natural dye one’s old clothes? Should we do it?
One of the popular reasons why people throw away their garments is due to their color fading away.
Some clothes, especially fast fashion items, lose their color easily.
You may only use such clothes for a few months.
T-shirts, jeans, baby clothes, scarves, etc are easily thrown away than recycled.
In this article, I want to share with you some techniques in which you can rejuvenate your old clothes by adding fresh, natural color to them.
This will increase the lifetime of the clothes and helps the planet in a subtle way.
Before we jump into it, here is a quick disclaimer
“Only natural fiber garments with light colors can be used for natural dyeing.”
How to make natural dye at home?
Do you know what’s awesome about making dyes at home?
All the ingredients can be either found in your home or they can be bought from the nearest store.
Below is the list of items and the colors it can create. You can use it accordingly
- Onion skins – Yellow / Orange
- Eucalyptus leaves – Tan, rust red, yellow, green, orange, chocolate brown
- Dandelion roots – Brown
- Coffee grounds – Brown
- Bougainvillea – Pink
- Avocado – Light pink
- Walnut hulls – Brown
- Strawberries, Cherries – Pink
- Rose flower – Pink
- Lavender – Pink hue
- Red cabbage – Blue / Purple
- Hyacinth flowers – Blue
- Beets – Deep red
- Daylily – Res / Purple
- Artichokes – Green
- Red clover – Gold
- Celery leaves – Yellow
How to prepare a natural dye bath?
A dye bath is a solution used in dyeing.
To make this we need to chop the plant/berries/coffee, etc into small pieces and place them in a pot with double the amount of water.
Then Bring the water to a boil.
Simmer for an hour.
Complete the process by straining and removing the particles.
Disclaimer:
Before the dyeing process begins, we have to prepare the fabric for the dye bath.
We want the color to stick into the fabric.
For making this easier and more effective, we need to soak the fabric in a color fixative.
For dye bath made out of berries: Boil the fabric for one hour in a solution containing ½ cup of salt in 8 cups of water.
For dye bath made out of plants/veggies: Boil the fabric for one hour in a solution containing ¼ portion vinegar and remaining water.
When done, rinse it with cold water.
How to dye the fabrics at home?
After completing the fixate treatment, soak the wet fabric in the bath dye we prepared earlier.
Simmer the water until the fabric turns into your desired color.
If you want to attain dark shades, all you have to do is leave the fabric in the dye bath overnight.
Once done, wash the fabric separately until the excess color is washed off and then leave it to dry.
Notes:
- Wear gloves while handling dye
- Use old mud utensils as dye vessel
- Use less water
