As a dressmaker and tailor, I’ve always been changing, altering and dying my clothes.
And as someone who loves nature and draws inspiration from it I’ve always looked into more sustainable ways for pretty much anything I do.
Dying fabrics with only what nature provides is one of those ideas we’ve had a while ago.
Sophie from Opia, a local Byron bay label, uses only plant based materials to dye her pieces, and was more than happy to share this ancient knowledge with us.
After the success of my previous DIY blogposts with @spell, we’ve decided to recreate it - only this time for our own hand crafted with love linen pieces. As we love to give garments a second life or a new purpose, we wanted to show you how this can be done easily at home with only what you got in your veggie shelf.
After organising our workshop space - our backyard for this occasion with a few Peruvian rugs around the long table, the only thing we needed was the veggies and spices, some large and wide pots and some white vinegar (recipes attached)
I was lucky enough to have my friends Elise and May help with this super fun afternoon.
The balmy breeze blew through the backyard whilst we were preparing the ingredients for the Dye.
As the afternoon went on, we started to put all ingredients into pots and to boil the colours.
The most exciting part was getting the clothes into the dye brew and watching them soak and change colour.
It was a fun creative afternoon filled with giggles and laughter – we couldn’t have spent it any better.
THE RECIPES
Each recipe card is per 1 meter of fabric, simply increase the ingredients your using for bigger batches based on how much fabric you’re dying.
Blush Colour
4 dark avocado skins
8 cups water
White Vinegar
- Bring water to boil with rinsed avocado skins in the water. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
- Strain skins out of the pot.
- Dampen fabric and simmer 10–20 minutes.
- Rinse in vinegar solution or leave in bath overnight.
Apricot Colour
5 cups packed yellow onion skins
8 cups water
White Vinegar
- Boil water with the onion skins
- Simmer for 20 minutes
- Strain the onion skins and leave only water in the pot.
- Add dampened fabric and simmer for 20 minutes.
It is best to leave in bath or rinse pot over night and then rinse in the morning – you can rinse in vinegar water after simmering but it will dilute the dye
Sage cotton material dye
1/2 cup liquid chlorophyll
6cups water
- Pre dampen fabric
- Boil water in large pot
- Add chlorophyll and dampened fabric
- Simmer for 20 min
It is best to leave in bath and rinse in the morning – you can rinse after simmering but it will dilute the dye – also chlorophyll will not set with vinegar.
Mustard Colour
3 tbsp. ground turmeric
3 cups packed yellow onion skins
8 cups water
White Vinegar
-Boil water with the turmeric and onion skins. Simmer for 20 minutes
- Strain the onion skins and leave only water in the pot
- Add dampened fabric to pot and simmer for 20 minutes
Again it is best to leave in bath over night and then rinse in the morning – you can rinse in vinegar water after simmering but it will dilute the dye
Blush Colour Beetroot
2 large beetroots washed and chopped
8 cups water
White Vinegar
- Bring water to with beetroot to boil
- Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes
- Strain beetroots out of the pot
- Add dampened fabric and simmer 10–20 minutes
Rinse in vinegar solution or leave in bath overnight
As we’ve experienced the fabrics will have slight variances in their colour due to the natural dying process (we love that each piece comes out looking slightly different!)
Intensity varies depending on the fabric you’re using – cotton, linen, rayon are best.
Creative Direction: @anita_ghise
Photagrapher: Alisha Tinsley @alishatinsley (shot on film)
Location & Styling @anita_ghise
VEGGIE DYE LEARNED FROM SOPHIE @opiabyronbay