As you guys may know, we have been obsessed with designing our own fabrics these last couple of years with naturally. We absolutely love using indigo dye to create pillows, wall hangings, dishtowels and more. But we’ve been itching to try other forms of natural dyes. So a couple of weeks ago, we were at our parents’ house in Michigan for a little summer vacation on the lake. Whenever we’re together (since we run this blog as a team, but from different states), we jump at the chance to create together, so we were thrilled to give a new form of naturally dyeing a try!
We teamed up with method, who is inspiring all of us to #fearnomess and get our hands dirty while creating! We’re known to get a little bit messy while working on our DIY projects, especially dyeing, so having method soap on hand is key. And it’s pretty great that method is a people-friendly company, products that are biodegradable, made form recycled materials and are 100 percent recyclable. And their scents and colors of soap are so great to boot!
Since we were creating this DIY natural fabric dye project at our mom’s house we were inspired by none other than her yellow kitchen! We chose turmeric powder as our natural dye to to create fabric that was summery and cheerful, but still natural and warm. We are so excited to share our natural dyed picnic blanket with you.
Read more for our DIY Natural Fabric Dye Tutorial…
Supplies:
2.5 yards, cut in half down the middle of 100% cotton fabric (we used natural un-bleached muslin)
turmeric powder
large pot
water
wooden spoon
Steps:
- Cut fabric to your desired size.
- Prepare fabric to be dyed. It is best to pre-treat the fabric. This step is to help the fabric hold the dye. We added 1 T. vinegar to a pot of water.
- Add 1 T of turmeric to 3 cups of water. For a large amount of fabric we did 3 T of turmeric to 9 cups of water. Bring to boil.
- Add fabric to water and reduce heat. Let sit in water for up to 30 mins. Stir the fabric lightly with wooden spoon.
- Rinse with hot water until water runs clear.
- You can heat set with iron. Wash and dry a few times before use to ensure all dye is set.
We made the picnic blanket a dip dye design by placing the entire fabric in the pot for one minute. Then pulled out the top third of fabric and gradually pulled more fabric every few minutes. We are planning to use this for a picnic blanket this summer but will be bringing it inside this fall for a tablecloth for sure!
Photos by Sara Albers and Melissa Fenlon.
Thank you for method for sponsoring this post. And thank you for supporting the brands that support Alice & Lois.
14 Comments
Just gorgeous – love how this turned out!
Thanks so much!
This turned out absolutely stunning!!!
Thank you, Amy!
This is so so pretty! I’ve always wanted to try dyeing with turmeric.
This is so so pretty! I’ve always wanted to try dyeing with turmeric.
It is so much fun!
Love how this turned out, I’m definitely going to try this out for dinner napkins and table cloths!
What do you mean by pre-treating with vinegar? Boil the fabric first in the vinegar/water pot before dyeing later in the dye pot?
Yes, you got it. Vinegar and water together. -Sara
This is lovely! Do you have any tips on how to make it a lighter yellow color?
I would think you could use less turmeric powder and leave in the dye for a super short time.
Does this bleed when you wash it afterwards? We want to make them for presents but don’t want people to ruin entire loads of wash from our gift. Thanks!
You should wash and dry the dyed fabric once it is dry after you dye it. That sets the dye. We have not had any issues. Sara