Exploring Nettles for Color

During the past two months, I've been exploring nettles and their uses. Today, let's looks at the humble nettle as a dye plant.

The leaves are used for the dye, which if you're going to give the fiber prep a try from the first post in my nettle series, you'll have the leaves all stripped and ready! As with any dye preparation of natural leaves, you'll want to chop or mash them to release as much of their color as you can. Of course, these are stinging nettles, so gloves are a good idea.

One dyer recommended using an aluminum dye pot for the best color when dyeing with nettles. Typically, dyers prefer to use stainless steel or enamelware pots. The nettles must react favorably with the aluminum in this case.

It's a good idea to mordant the wool first with alum, but not all dyers do. There are multiple internet sites that can show you how to do that.

Plan on about 3x the weight of nettle leaves as yarn or cloth to be dyed. The more leaves, the darker the color. Color will also depend on other factors, like the age of the plant when harvested, the hardness of the water used, and any mordants used. This isn't an exact science when you're using natural resources!

Then you boil the nettle leaves until they are fully cooked and a bit mushy. Strain them well (cheesecloth is a good idea) and cool the liquid. Add the wet yarn or fabric to the cooled dye bath and bring the mixture to a simmer (do not boil) over medium heat. Let simmer until the dye is taken up into the yarn or cloth. Let the dye pot stand and cool completely overnight. Drain and remove the yarn or cloth. Roll in an old towel to remove excess water, then hang or lay flat to dry.

You should wind up with a color varying from gray/green to green/brown. 

Another dyer's blog says you can chop the nettle roots and boil with alum to create a dye bath that will give a yellow color. So many uses for this pesky weed!

More in this series:
Exploring Nettles for Fabric
Exploring Nettles for Dinner
Exploring Nettles for Health

Pegg Thomas is an author and editor, but also a fiber artist of some *mumble* years. She raises sheep and spins their wool to create one-of-a-kind shawls and other useful items. While she mostly uses a modern-day production spinning wheel, she occasionally spins on a 200-year-old Great Wheel, a true piece of American history.

Dyeing With Berries and Plants

   

       During colonial times there often wasn’t enough money to buy clothing or the cloth to make it with. Consequently, the colonists made their own cloth either from the wool of sheep or from flax, a fibrous plant.
      Children usually prepared the wool for spinning by removing debris and dung from the wool and then brushing it with “cards” or combs, which were made like large, square hairbrushes with sharp wooden pegs or nails as the bristles.
     To prepare flax, they removed the seeds and crushed the stems, removing the outer casing and revealing the part of the plant to be turned into thread.
     Colonial women did the spinning, dyeing, and weaving. They spun the wool or flax fibers into thread using a spinning wheel. Once the thread was spun, it was dyed, and then turned into sheets of fabric using a loom. This was called homespun cloth.

During Francis Marion Memorial Days at Camp Bob Cooper near Summerton, SC,

Mrs. Peggy Chiappetta demonstrates how to dye cloth with indigo.

     Many different plants and berries were used for dyeing:

 

black                     Rocky Mountain Bee Plant boiled leaves, walnut husks

blue                       sunflower seeds, dogwood bark, red cabbage, mulberries (royal purple), elderberries (lavender), grapes (purple) raspberries (purple/blue)

brown                   acorns (boiled), broom sedge (golden yellow brown), coffee grinds, tea, beet root (dark brown); goldenrod shoots (deep brown), ivy twigs (yellow/brown), juniper berries, pine tree bark, walnut hulls (dark brown), dandelion roots gold coneflower leaves and stems

green                    sage, spinach leaves (dark olive green), black-eyed Susan, red pine needles, red onion skins, Queen Anne’s Lace (pale green), chamomile leaves

orange                  alder bark, bloodroot (reddish orange), carrot, barberry (yellow orange) pink wild
red raspberry, strawberries, beets (deep pink), cherries, camilla (pink- magenta)

purple                  blue berries

red                       eucalyptus leaves and bark (also makes tan and rust), rose hips, dried hibiscus flowers, crab apple bark, St. John’s Wort whole plant soaked in alcohol, wild ripe blackberries

yellow                 dandelions, marigolds, rabbitbrush, barberry (yellow orange), butternut tree (light yellow orange), bay leaves, celery leaves, and onions


picture is from
http://missabigailshopechest.blogspot.com

Salt Fixative (for berry dyes) 1/2 cup salt to 8 cups cold water
Plant Fixatives (for plant dyes) 4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar


 

 

 

 

 

To make marigold dye

Things you’ll need:
• large pot
• wooden spoon
• rubber gloves (to protect hands from dye)
• potato masher
• colander or sieve for straining
• 2 tbls. vinegar
• 1 quart of water
• 2 cups of marigold petals
• 10 yards of white cotton string or white yarn


Instructions
• Pour the quart of water into the pot and add the marigold petals. Let sit overnight.
• Heat the mixture and let it simmer for 15 minutes
• Remove from heat and mash the petals with the masher
• Return to heat and simmer for another 15 minutes
• Strain and discard the petals
• Roll your string or yarn into a coil or skein and secure with a string to keep it from tangling
• Soak the skein in the pot of yellow dye until desired color intensity (overnight for bright yellow)
• Squeeze out the excess liquid, hang on a stick or peg, and allow the skein to dry

Susan F. Craft's Revolutionary War novel, The Chamomile, won the SIBA Okra Pick Award. She has two post-Revolutionary War novels set for release in 2015 - Laurel, on January 12, and Cassia, on September 14, by Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She is represented by Linda S. Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency.