natural dyes
bundle dyeing
Materials used:
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cotton
mordanted with alum (some of the fabrics used were previously dyed in madder root and saffron/turmeric)
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dyestuff
leaves, berries, rose petals, fresh turmeric root, hibiscus flowers, red cabbage
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Day 1
Playing with flower petals and leaves and tying the bundles.
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Day 2
After steaming the bundles for 1 hour, I let them sit for 24 hours, then unwrapped them to reveal the results.
Ta da!
indigo
Material samples dyed in indigo (2 dips)
fabrics: cotton, silk
yarns: cotton, alpaca, wool
watercolor paper to test indigo's paper dyeing properties
Project 1
Hand-stitched skirt for a degree project in Sustainable Fashion. It can be worn as a simple skirt with strap belt or with suspenders on; straight or criss-cross at the back or front. Possibilities are many!
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Materials used:
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100% cotton calico
mordanted with alum
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dyestuff
indigo vat, 2 dips
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Project 2
Indigo shibori, stitched and dyed.
Materials used:
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cotton muslin
not mordanted
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dyestuff
indigo vat, 2 dips
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Materials used:
Project 3
Experimental indigo wax batik.
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cotton & viscose
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dyestuff
indigo vat, 3 dips
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Cotton
Viscose
avocado & madder
Materials used:
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100% cotton calico
mordanted with alum
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dyestuff
3x avocado (skins + seeds), madder root
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Material samples dyed with avocado:
fabrics: cotton (calico, muslin),
linen
yarns: cotton, alpaca, wool (soaked in
a cold soup - right, cooked -
left)
watercolor paper
Material samples dyed with madder root:
fabrics: cotton (calico, muslin),
linen
yarns: cotton, alpaca, wool
watercolor paper
Results of dyeing with avocado skins & stones and madder root: peplum top with circle shibori resist print.
Top part is over-dyed with avocados (thus the deeper darker shade of pink/brown) and small beans are used to create a circle print. Bottom part (light pink) is dyed with madder.
This top is entirely hand-stitched and it was part of my collection for a degree project in Sustainable Fashion.
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shibori & eco print
Materials used:
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100% cotton muslin
mordanted with alum
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dyestuff
turmeric, hibiscus, bell flower
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Process:
I used shibori resist print in the middle and in each corner (tieing, hand-stitching) and eco print with hibiscus & bell flowers (pink and blue color). Edges are dyed with turmeric.
The scarf is hand-stitched along the edges are four hibiscus dyed tassels are added to each corner.
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swatches
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color fastness test
Color fastness is the ability of the dye to fixate the color on the fabric/fibre. I made this test to see which dyes are color fast and to what extent. I let these samples sit on a window sill exposed to direct sunlight for 2 weeks, partly covered with a book, to be able to see potential changes. After uncovering the swatches, some color changes were more visible than others.
All the fabrics were mordanted with alum prior to dyeing.
And the winner is: indigo! No change of the color whatsoever was visible on either of the samples.
The biggest changes of color were visible on the yellow samples (saffron and turmeric), however this was expected due to general sensitivity and color fugitivity of yellow dyestuff.
Other swatches (avocado and madder) have shown some changes of the shade, especially avocado, but not as significant as yellow dyes.
Dye stuff used (from left to right):
indigo (2 dips), indigo (1 dip), avocado seeds, madder, avocado skins, madder, saffron/turmeric, saffron, saffron/turmeric.
See detailed results of each dye below.
