Natural Dyeing With Dandelions

Ever wanted to dye or re-dye natural fibres using homemade ingredients? Look no further than your back garden!

Also check out these other amazing things you can do with dandelion blossoms!

Step 1: Supplies

Yarn – Wool dyes best. I used 100% Cotton Yarn

Alum Mordant

Dandelion blossoms (I used 2 parts blooms to 1 part yarn)

Non-reactive pots, pans and measuring spoons

Stove or hot plate

Hot water

Safety Note: Since some products used in dyeing can potentially be toxic, it's a good idea to have a dedicated set of pots and pans not used for food preparation. Hint: check your local thrift shop

Step 2: Mordant the Yarn

As it turns out, the only white yarn I had available was 100% Cotton. A lovely yarn but I found out later that it does not take natural dyes as well. Ultimately, I was pretty happy with the end result, but in retrospect, I would go with a protein fiber yarn such as alpaca fiber or sheep wool.

How much Mordant?

Honestly, after checking a lot of sources, I'm a little confused about the amount of mordant needed per fibre. Taking them all into consideration, I came up with 8% mordant to fibre. Since I was mordanting about 2 ounces of yarn, that came to 1 teaspoon of alum mordant. This was dissolved in a cup of hot water. I put about 2 inches of warm water in my stock pot to which I added the pre-dissolved alum. I stirred and added the yarn. At this point, you want to stop stirring. Wool fibre will felt with agitation. Bring your yarn to a light boil, then simmer for about 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the yarn to cool to room temp. Now, you can either let it dry for later use or immediately move to the dyeing phase.

Step 3: Prepare the Dandelion Dye

Go out and pick a ton of dandelion blooms! Ok, not a ton but lots and lots. I used 2 ounces of blooms to dye 1 ounce of yarn. The more blooms you pick, the stronger the dyebath.

Put the dandelions in a non-reactive cooking pot and add hot water. I used about 3 cups. Set it on the stove, bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours. Strain out the flower parts and reserve the dye stock.

1 Million Women is empowering women and girls around the world to lower their impact on the planet. If you love what we do, please support our work by donating a couple of dollars. For the price of a cuppa, you can help us inspire millions more! (click to donate)

Step 4: Dye the Yarn

Here is where you combine it all. Add the dye stock to your non reactive pot. Heat it to just a warm temp and add your yarn. Bring that to a light boil, then simmer for about an hour. Turn off the heat and let the yarn cool. When the yarn is wet, don't agitate or move it around which can cause felting.

Once cool, remove the yarn and rinse it with luke warm water. Hang to dry. The end result was a nice, soft yellow colored yarn. The remaining dye can be used for another round of yarn altho it will be a lot lighter.

Based on this Instuctable from fiberartsy

READ THIS NEXT: 10 ways to make your next party more planet-friendly

Banner image: Pixabay

1 Million Women is more than our name, it's our goal! We're building a movement of strong, inspirational women acting on climate change by leading low-carbon lives. To make sure that our message has an impact, we need more women adding their voice. We need to be louder. Joining us online means your voice and actions can be counted. We need you.