Posts about dyeing

Natural dyeing with onion skins

27 October 2013

Onion skins are one of the most readily available and reliable natural dyestuffs. If you want an easy introduction to natural dyeing, start saving those onion skins! Follow these instructions for dying wool, silk or… Read more

Mordanting wool and protein fibres with alum

1 September 2013

If you want to dye wool, silk or other animal fibres using natural dyes, such as onion skins, you will need to use a mordant in order for the dye to bond with your yarn… Read more

A joint effort

12 August 2011

A while ago, Jessica, one of my partners in craft, mentioned that she wanted some drapey, lace-weight yarn in a bright, light green for a summer shawl. I happened to have a bargain cone of… Read more

Happy new yarn

1 January 2011

Happy 2011 to you! I did a spot of dyeing in the final days on 2010. The sock yarn was created by dipping sections in royal blue and yellow, then over-dyeing with pink or turquoise… Read more

Dyeing wool with Kool Aid - immersion method

26 March 2010

Why Kool Aid? If you’re new to dyeing, there is no quicker, easier, safer or more reliable introduction than immersion dyeing wool with Kool Aid. Kool Aid is technically a food stuff (although you wont… Read more

Natural dyeing re-run

24 March 2010

I enjoyed Saturday’s dyeing session so much I couldn’t resist doing a bit more on Sunday. Here are the results: The logwood purple extract gave a good strong indigo-purple. My book told me that with… Read more

Colourful Saturday

21 March 2010

Yesterday, I had a couple of friends round for a day of dyeing experiments. I have spent the last few weeks procuring and preparing. It was very hard to resist dipping into the supplies until the… Read more

Acid dye experiments

18 February 2010

I’ve been experimenting this week with Procion MX textile dyes. I put a few different yarns in a dye bath and I’m amazed at the colour variation from the same batch! The superwash merino sucked… Read more

To dye for

4 September 2009

Broadcasts from Stitch Up land have been thin on the ground in recent months, not least because I’ve acquired not one, but two new bikes, and I’ve been out out enjoying the Great British summer… Read more

Kool Aid experiments

10 May 2009

I’ve always been put off dyeing yarn because my experience of dyeing fabric is that it’s either expensive (with machine dyes) or messy (with immersion dyes). However, the temptation to dye my new silk tops… Read more