Natural clothing dyes

[Tiffany7]

Hi everyone.
Im looking for natural things I could use to dye clothes. Im going to get a pair of white leggings & would like to dye them a very pale pink. Kind of the color your whites turn when you accidently throw in a red sock.

Just wondering about food coloring & Kool Aide... do you think they would work or would it wash out?

Are there any other natural alternatives you guys can think of to dye clothes (not just pink but other colors too). I know about coffee & tea which are both great. I just really hate chemical dyes.

Thanks.

 

[tangerine]

Great topic!

I don't know much about this; I used to use procion dye, but I am guessing that is what you would consider a chemical dye?

This site might get you started.

 

[fash ho']

kool aide probably counts as a chemical dye!

 

[runner]

there is an ancient art of dyeing with persimmon juice.

from osugi.co.jp

 

[Tiffany7]

kool aide probably counts as a chemical dye!

LOL well I just mean no prepackaged junk like Rite Dye or anything that would have an strong odor that might hurt my parrot.

 

[tangerine]

there is an ancient art of dyeing with persimmon juice.
...

I have a pair of kakishibu-dyed (is that redundant?) jeans, the color is beautiful!

Mine are garment-dyed, the rope-dyed (yarn-dyed?) ones are really costly.

 

[runner]

that's not redundant since kakishibu-dyed is kakishibu-zome.
yes kakishibu-dyed jeans are interesting and cool and slightly dangerous!



cockscomb (?) flower

cotton, silk, wool, rayon, felt, polyester

 

[runner]

four-o'clock (right?)

petunia

petunia red

 

[runner]

grape

the bottom row with alum

from geocities.jp/opotyopure29/chika/sub1.htm

 

[tangerine]

runner, fantastic!

How are the kakishibu-dyed jeans dangerous?

 

[runner]

I didn't mean it is poisonous.
sorry tangerine
kakishibu can be from tan to almost anthracite.
but don't some of kakishibu-dyed jeans have some bad boy feeling about them
and look dangerous?




madder + kakishibu
from hachihachi.com

 

[tangerine]

I didn't mean it is poisonous.
sorry tangerine
kakishibu can be from tan to almost anthracite.
but don't some of kakishibu-dyed jeans have some bad boy feeling about them
and look dangerous?
...

Whew! I was hoping that's what you meant.

Yes, I look very dangerous!

Sorry about the delayed response!

 

[Bel]

You probably want to buy unbleached cotton too--it takes a lot of chemicals to make stuff white.

 

[softgrey]

wow- i missed this the first time around...
interesting stuff...

i guess wine would make a reasonably good dye...
or any type of grape juice or blueberry juice...etc...

*btw- rit dye does not produce any sort of odor and is not toxic in any way in my experience...
i don't think it would bother a parrot- unless you were planning to DYE the parrot...!!...


...

 

[Whitelinen]

I like the shades that come from grapes.

 

[gius]

oh oh! Well, we have been using Kool-Aid in class
Kool-Aid works well with protein-based fibers
like WOOL
It's permanent, so go ahead and try
It makes a nice smell and don't worry about using pots and pans that you normally use for cooking--they are non-toxic so it is absolutely safe

Very weird thinking about it,
People actually drink this stuff Kool-Aid

 

[*Happiness*]

I missed this thread!
interesting.

grape juice seems to work well.

I didn't even think about kool-aid being a dye...and people drink that stuff. scary!

 

[gius]

our samples w/ the kool-aid also came out a bit pale
and it's actually not very light-fast
so it might be prone to fading if you're not careful

although i have seen some people, like at crafster, dye with kool-aid and it came out bright

 

[pocodolce]

what about beetroot??? i think that would work since everytime i get it stained on my clothes, it never comes off

 

[meme527]

there are some really good books on this. one is called "wild color" i believe...

the main toxic element is the mordant, which is necessary to make the fabric colorfast. mordants are made from aluminum, copper, etc. so the flower or leaf that you use is most likely perfectly safe, but without mordant the color will wash right out of the material, and THERE'S the problem.

it's recommended that you dye outside or in a very well ventilated area.

if interested, i can try to find the exact info on that book.

good luck, have fun.

(ps: softgrey, i think some chemicals are particularly dangerous for birds, even when humans can't detect them...not sure but that's probably the cause for worry)