10 mistakes to avoid in natural dyeing

Hi Creative Mamas! Today I want to share with you a list of 10 mistakes to avoid in natural dyeing so that you can get best results the first time!

These are very common mistakes that every natural dyer can make from time to time, so they are well worth noting to avoid them all together 🙂

#1 Not using natural fibers

Before starting the natural dyeing process, it’s super important to use 100% natural fibers (natural fabrics and natural yarns) when you are using natural dyes.

Synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon are not going to receive the natural color so you must avoid them.

The best way to make sure that you are dealing with 100% natural materials is to perform a quick burn test.

Best natural fibers:

• wool
• silk
• cotton
• linen
• leather

The photo bellow illustrates what happens when you immerse 2 different yarns (which look exactly the same to the naked eye) into a cochineal dye bath, but one is acrylic wool and the other one is 100% merino wool.

#2 Weighing the fiber when its wet

You must always know the weight of fiber before starting the natural dyeing process.

It’s important to remember to do this while the yarn or fabric is still dry. Otherwise the wet fiber will be heavier and the whole mordanting and dye percentages will be wrong!

#3 Not mordanting the fiber

You must always mordant your fibers. Please remember that you need different types of mordanting processes depending on whether you are working with cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen or protein fibers such as silk and wool.

For more detailed information about mordanting your fibers read here.

However not all dyes are made equal and some natural dyes (substantive dye) do not require a mordant in order to receive the dye.

But most natural dyes do require the use of mordants so it’s important not to skip this step!

#4 Using the wrong mordant

Another very common mistake is to use the wrong mordant.

So, if you are working with cotton you must use Alum Acetate and if you are working with wool you must use Alum Sulphate.

The photo below illustrates what happened when I mordanted cotton using the wrong mordant.

I dyed it in a cochineal dye bath and instead of getting the bright deep pink I was expecting I got a soft washy pink.

The small pink yarn is cotton as well and was dyed in the same dye bath as the light pink yarn but was mordanted correctly!

It represents the true color of cotton dyed with cochineal using the same formula.

This is because the dye was not able to penetrate the fiber properly 🙂 So remember not to do what I did!

#5 Felting your wool yarn

When dyeing wool yarn or roving you must be super careful not to expose it to high temperatures.

The idea is not to shock the fiber and that means avoiding sudden changes in temperature (hot water, cold water) as well as avoiding friction.

So the best way to avoid this is to start the dyeing process using lukewarm water and to never allow the dye bath to reach boiling point.

Also it’s a good idea not to handle the fiber too much while inside the dye bath.

#6 Steaks in fabric

Another very common mistake is to not stir your fabrics enough while they are inside the dye solution.

The fabric needs to have enough space inside the dye bath to move freely and to allow you to stir constantly. This is because we want the fabric to dye evenly and without any marks or streaks.

The photo below illustrates my point! The orange piece of fabric was too big and didn’t have enough room inside the pot, hence the darker red streaks!

#7 Spots in fabric

When using natural dye extract its very important to dilute it correctly to avoid sopts in your fabrics.

The photo above illustrates this point very well. This silk was dyed in logwood and we had some undissolved lumps of dye extract inside the bath. By the time we realized it was too late, the spots were there forever 🙂

#8 Not enough time inside dye bath

Another common mistake is not allowing your fabric or yarn to stay inside the dye solution for long enough time.

My rule of thumb is to always allow for 1 hour of dyeing time but this will depend on the color intensity that you are after as well as the type of natural dye you are using!

#9 Throwing excess dye

Throwing left over dye solution is a big NO NO in my book. If you still have a decent amount of color inside the dye pot after you have finished with your fibers there are a couple of things you can do:

• Pour the left over dye solution inside a glass jar. You can keep this dye to use for solar dyeing as well as for eco printing.
• You can re use the dye as a second, third or fourth exhaust. This means you can re use it with new mordanted fabric or yarn as long as you still have color in the dye pot.

Some natural dyes are more generous than others. Cochineal and logwood tend to give me many exhausts every time I use them.

The photo below shows you the different tones of pink you can achieve y using different exhausts.

Each time you dye a new fabric or yarn, it will go from bright dark color to less intense color and you will be able to get different shades of one dye.

# Using the wrong natural dye

Choosing your natural dye carefully is so important. I have written extensively about natural dyes and the best way to identify the best dyes for natural dyeing.

I have a list of my favorite 40 best natural dyes!

Download your natural dyes list!

If you are using a fugitive dye such as carrots or red cabbage it’s just not going to work.

You can make amazing bright yellows using yellow dyes such as dyer’s chamomiles , onion skins and fusticwood.

You can also make beautiful red colors using madder root. Check out the natural color palette that is available to you by choosing the right natural dyes.