Fabric Artistry and Embroidery

Created by Sudeshna Paul

• Types of Fabric to Use
• Not all fabric can be easily dyed with natural materials. The best
ones to use are those made from natural materials themselves.
Cotton, silk, wool, and linen will take the dye the best.
• Synthetic blends will take some dye, but will usually be lighter in
color. If you’re not sure and can risk the item you’re planning to
dye, go ahead and do it. If it’s something valuable, try to find a
similar scrap of fabric and try that first.
Dyeing the fabric with turmeric
Ingredients

Natural fabric like cotton, cheesecloth, silk. I used part of

a coarse natural cotton drop sheet I got at a secondhand
shop.
Around 3 tablespoons of turmeric powder (I am not the
measuring type, if you use more, the colour will be
deeper, less, it will be softer.)
About a cup of white vinegar. You can also use mordant. I
didn’t because I didn’t know what it was and I had
vinegar in my kitchen.
4 litres of water.
• Method
• Fold/roll/scrunch the fabric and wrap with rubber bands or string to
make patterns in it. If you like straight lines you could fold it neatly
and use pegs and stuff to make a more shibori style design. Or you
could just scrunch it up wildly, wrap it up, and see what happens!
• Soak the fabric so it’s thoroughly wet. This will help it absorb the
dye better.
• Fill a saucepan with water, add turmeric and vinegar and bring to
the boil.
• Once water is boiling add the fabric.
• Boil until the fabric is the colour you would like it.
• Take the fabric out of the saucepan, run under cold water and then
unwrap. This is the fun bit, its kind of like opening a Christmas
present!
Its impossible not to be happy when faced with a wild tie-dyed
yellow extravaganza. Make it into a cushion, a dress, a bag. Or
just smile
Dyeing the fabric with beets
Ingredients
• 1 bunch beets
• 2 cups vinegar
• 8 cups water
• Large stock pot
• Cotton dishtowels
Instructions
• 1. Prepare your fabric by washing and
drying it a couple times to remove dirt and
chemicals that might interfere with the
uptake of the natural clothing dye.
• In a large pot, create a fixative bath of 2 cups vinegar and 8 cups water (or 1:4 depending on
how much water you need). Bring to a boil and let your fabric simmer in this mixture for an
hour. If you have an extra pot, you can take this time to create your dye while the fabric
simmers.
• Scrub the beets to remove any dirt and then chop them. I used 3 medium beets (a standard
bunch at the grocery store) for my towels, but you might need more depending on how deep
you’d like the color and how much fabric you have to dye. If you use more beets and less water,
you’ll get a deeper rose color, while fewer beets and more water will give you a lighter color.
• Place the beets in a pot and cover with water so that the water level is about 1 inch above the
beets. Simmer on low for an hour. Once the dye is a deep red color, remove the beets with a
slotted spoon and let the beet water come to room temperature's beets and more water will
give you a lighter color.
• Dip one end your wet cotton dish towels into the red dye. I like to drape mine over the pot so
one half is soaking in the dye and the other half is hanging loose over the dry side of the pot. Let
sit for 3 hours or overnight. The longer you let it set, the more vibrant and color-fast your dye
will be.
• Remove your fabric from the dye bath and gently squeeze it to remove the excess dye. Allow
your fabric to drip dry overnight (I drape mine over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom so
the sides don’t touch). Then use a warm iron for five minutes to heat set the dye.
• Wash and dry on low/gentle to prevent the color from fading too much over time.
 Dyeing the fabric with
coffee
Materials Needed :
•lots of coffee to brew
•a way to brew your coffee
•a large pot
•a stove
•a spoon
•the clothing you’re dying
This will work best with white, or at least light-
colored, clothing. Coffee dyes often don’t show
up well on darker colors.
Step 1: Brew Lots of Coffee
You’re going to need to fully submerge the clothing that you’re
dying in coffee, so you’ll need to brew a good amount of coffee.
If you only have a two-cup French press or don’t want to make
several pour-overs, you can easily make a big pot of either
instant coffee or cold brew. Both are effective for dying. As you
brew your coffee, place it in a large pot.
The strength of your brew will affect how dark the clothing is
dyed. A stronger brew will make clothing darker than a lighter
one.
•Step 2: Bring Your Brewed Coffee to a Boil
•With your pot full of brewed coffee, bring the coffee to a boil on the stove. Once the coffee is boiling, turn off the
stove. You can put a lid on the pot and leave it on the burner to keep the coffee as hot as possible, but the coffee
shouldn’t be boiling while you’re dying your fabric.
•Step 3: Steep Your Clothing in the Pot
•Put the clothing you want dyed in the pot of coffee. The clothing should be fully submerged, unless you only want part
of it dyed. Once it’s submerged, stir the clothing with a spoon to eliminate any air pockets. All parts of the clothing that
you want dyed should be in direct and full contact with the coffee.
•Let the clothing steep for a while. The more time you leave it in the coffee, the darker the dye will be.
•If you aren’t sure how much you want your clothing dyed, you can pull it out after one hour to see what it looks like. If
you want it dyed more, just reheat the coffee and put your clothing back in.
•Step 4: Rinse Off Your Clothing
•Once you’re happy with the result, rinse off your clothing with cold water until the water coming draining from it is
clear. This indicates that the clothing is thoroughly rinsed off.
•Step 5: Wash Your Pot
•Promptly dump the coffee out of your pot and wash the pot. Doing so quickly after the dying is done will keep the
coffee from staining your pot.
•Step 6: Wash Your Coffee-Dyed Clothing Gently
•While your clothing is thoroughly dyed, the dye isn’t colorfast. It’ll fade as you wash the clothing. To reduce how much
the dye fades, wash your clothing in cold water and with a gentle detergent. Additionally, don’t wash it with whites, as
any dye that comes out could stain them.
Thank You.