Natural Dyes

This was a neat activity, we used marigolds to dye cloth!  R (5) and I had tried using natural colours to dye cloth before, but were not very successful.  This time we thought we would try marigolds since we had many to spare.  We used a LOT of marigolds and a little water and let the water boil and simmer for over an hour.   It smelled sweet, like honey, as the dye was being prepared.

We prepared the cloth by soaking it in a plant fixative of 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar    This process took an hour. 

We used two pieces of cloth.  The first piece was smaller, we knotted it up and added it to the dye.

R predicted the cloth would turn an orange colour like the marigolds. 

It turned green!

Later we used a larger piece of cloth.  R helped tie knots.  This time, maybe because the knots were not so tight, we didn’t end up with the same effect.  The colour was also slightly different as we added a little more water to cover the cloth while it was being dyed.

We plan to make a kurta (top) with our newly coloured cloth. 

Click here for more information on natural dyes and fixatives.