The Tea on Natural Dyes
Onion skins, roses, eucalyptus.
It never stops blowing my mind that such beautiful colors can come from nature. Prior to the industrial revolution, natural dyes were commonplace for dyeing garments, but as manufacturing developed, this way of creating color was left behind for chemicals that could create colors quicker and cheaper.
Almost 200 years later, we know full well the harm we’ve been doing to our planet, especially in the garment industry. We need to re-examine our relationship with nature. There is no perfect solution or perfect way forward, but there is so much we can do.
Natural dyes, when responsibly foraged, can be such a beautiful way to connect to nature and to what we put on our bodies. At the heart of Petal + Ash’s mission is empowering women while better aligning them with Mother Earth. Natural dyes are a huge part of this mission, as well as just an absolutely beautiful and magical way to create color and design.
Read on for some tea on natural dyes.
Natural dyes can be traced back to ancient times, with indigo suspected to be the oldest natural dye.
The British Redcoats were dyed from the root of the madder plant.
Common foods and spices like berries and turmeric create beautiful and vibrant colors, though are fugitive, meaning they fade very quickly.
Dyes high in tannins have incredibly strong colorfast properties. Black tea is a great dye that’s full of tannins.
Natural dyes like cochineal and lac actually come from bugs. The use of cochineal has been confirmed to have been used in the paintings of masters, to include Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride (Smithsonian Magazine).
Bundle dyeing is the process of placing dyestuff on fabric, bundling the fabric, and then steaming it to extract the color.
“Mordanting,” meaning in latin “to bite,” is the process used to prepare natural fabrics to accept natural dyes.
Colors created with natural dyes can be shifted with modifiers. Iron is a metal salt used to deepen colors to a moodier shade, as well as add to their light and colorfastness.
I am endlessly fascinated with natural dyes. For as much as I already know about them, I feel like I am constantly learning and growing on my natural dye journey. I hope you will fall in love with natural dyes just as much as I have. I can’t wait for them to be featured on such intimate pieces of clothing.
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