Eco dyeing tutorial - make your own colourful napkins!

Caroline South is here to teach you all about eco dyeing! Use her eco-dyeing tutorial to make your own colourful napkins.

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Published: October 25, 2021 at 10:00 am

The fab Caroline South is the queen of sustainability and is here to show you can make your own DIY napkins. And the best part? They’re naturally dyed using a home-grown colour palette. Be it vegetables fresh from the earth, flowers picked on a countryside stroll, or spices from a kitchen cupboard, nature is full of produce that can be used to create the most beautiful dyes. As they don’t rely on chemicals, using natural ingredients to colour fabric results in the prettiest soft, muted shades. And, by trying this artisanal technique, you’ll be following an age-old tradition, used for thousands of years. We truly love sustainable crafts! Caroline's basic eco-dyeing guide, then experiment with different dye materials to create a set of inexpensive, eco-friendly linen. Once you've made these pretty ombre tea towels use your new eco-dyeing technique to update clothes, bedding or even old linen for furoshiki wrapping. You can also use this eco-dyeing tutorial to do a greener version of tie-dying. Now it's over to Caroline!

Natural dyes

You can use most plants, fruits and spices to create natural dyes, and the final colour will vary depending on both the dye matter and the fabric. Here are a few suggestions, depending on the colour palette you want to achieve:

  • Yellow – turmeric, celery leaves.
  • Orange/brown – tea and coffee, brown onion, walnuts, marigolds.
  • Red/pink – strawberries, cherries, beetroot, hibiscus flowers.
  • Green – artichokes, spinach, peppermint leaves, nettles.
  • Blue/purple – blackberries, red cabbage, blueberries, black beans.

You will need

  • White cotton napkins
  • Dye materials (we used black beans (blue), red cabbage (purple), beetroot (pink) and turmeric (yellow))
  • White vinegar
  • Salt
  • Large cooking pot
  • Sieve
  • Rubber gloves

Eco dyeing tutorial

You will need:

  • Napkins
  • Dye
  • Salt

Step 1

Eco dyeing tutorial step 1

First, prepare a fixative to help prevent the dye from washing out, and to help the fabric pick up the dye more evenly. If using berries as the dye source, use salt as a fixative – ½ a cup of salt to 8 cups of water. If using plants to dye the napkins, use vinegar as a fixative – 1 part vinegar to 4 parts water.

Step 2

Eco dyeing tutorial step 2

Leave the napkins to soak in the fixative. After an hour, rinse the napkins thoroughly in cold water, wring them out, then put to one side while you prepare the dye.

Step 3

Eco dyeing tutorial step 3

Wearing rubber gloves, chop the dye source into small pieces and place into the large pot. Black beans can be added as they are.

Step 4

Eco dyeing tutorial step 4

Add twice as much water to the pot as dye source. If using turmeric, add around 4 cups of water to 1 tsp of turmeric. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for approximately an hour – the longer you simmer it, the stronger the dye will become.

Step 5

Strain the dye into a separate container, then dip the wet napkin into the dye. We dipped ours for a few minutes to achieve a subtle colour, but if you want a stronger shade, leave the napkin in longer. Bear in mind the colour will lighten when the fabric dries, so remove the napkins from the dye when they’re a shade or two darker than the desired colour. Note: When using the beetroot, we pegged the napkin to the side of the pan and left to soak for ten minutes to produce the shade of pink shown in the main image. With the turmeric, just 1-2 minutes produced the shade of yellow shown.

Step 6

Eco dyeing tutorial step 5

Rinse the napkin under cold water until the water runs clear. Open the napkin out and leave to dry, then press to finish.

We hope you’ve enjoyed Caroline’s eco-dyeing tutorial and will use your new napkins every day! For more eco-crafts head over to our recycled craft ideas for adults and visible mending tutorial. 

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