In the past I’ve used tea & Coffee to dye clothes. I’ve been meaning to try turmeric as a dye for aaaages. Then this week when I was “playing” with some yarn for an upcoming project (which btw worked out really well and I think you’re gonna love!!) I figured I might as well use the turmeric on some yarn instead to guage the process and see if I liked it before committing it to a garment. Well, I like it alot! What’s more it’s so easy to do. If you have some plain yarn at home that is in need of a little more zing….this could be just the ticket!
I used Pegasus Cotton Dishcloth Yarn (I love this stuff. Around £2 a ball and widely available on Ebay and Amazon) Ground Turmeric and White Vinegar
Start by winding your yarn into a skein. I wound it between two door handles across a hallway. You can use the back of a chair, or wind it in the same way you might a power cord around your elbow and thumb. Now this bit is IMPORTANT. Whatever you do, don’t tie your skein exactly as I have. I missed one important element and had a nightmare balling the yarn later as a result! See the multiple loops at either end of the skein? You need to tie through both of those to keep them from tangling in the dyeing process and around your loop at intervals. Like this!
In a stainless steel pan make a paste from 3 Tbsp of Turmeric and 2 Tbsp of White Vinegar….
Add 3 pints of water, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 mins to dissolve all the turmeric powder…
Thoroughly wet your skein and place into the dye liquid. I wanted an ombre effect so only placed one end of my skein in the dye liquid. Place the whole thing in if not. Gently simmer for about 10 minutes then turn off the heat and allow to sit in the cooling dye liquid for approx 30 mins. Agitate gently and periodically during this phase. Worth noting that I am dyeing 100% cotton yarn. The temperatures that cotton can withstand will be higher than wool yarn which can felt if the liquid is too hot and the yarn is agitated too much. If it were wool I would personally skip the simmering stage and minimise the agitation of the yarn whilst wet.
After 30 mins remove the skein from the dye liquid rinse in clean water thoroughly until water runs clear, then hang to dry. (There’s another one I dyed using a different process. Details soon!) Mine took a couple of days to dry completely…
This is what you’ll end up with. It will dry much lighter. See those currly loops at the ends that I forgot to tie?! I cannot tell you how much of a mare I had untangling those!
Ball up your skein and admire the rich graduated tones of your new “zingy” yarn!
Thought you’d like to see how it knits up…
Seriously loving these tones!
love this! do you need to add anything to make the dye colorfast or is the vinegar enough?
So far it seems the vinegar is enough. But I haven’t laundered it yet as I haven’t made anything to launder. I think it would be a handwash thing though…
Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m definitely going to try it!!!
So glad you like Kate 🙂 I’m in love with the colour!
Oh gosh that’s a gorgeous color!!!!!!
JJ
http://www.dressupnotdown.blogspot.com
This looks fantastic – love the ombré effect. Turmeric is also one of the natural dyes I’ve been planning to try out.
Can definitely recommend it Charlotte!
This is a wonderful, rich colour! Do you think this procedure would work for fabric/garment dyeing?
Yes, absolutely Irene! Natural fibres for sure. Synthetics I’m not sure. Px
What a wonderful, rich colour! Do you think this procedure would work for fabric/ garment dyeing?
Oh I have some wool that I dyed with turmeric years ago and made a fab cowl. It was this awful pus colour (pustard not mustard!) so the turmeric brightened it up beautifully. It’s still going strong with gentle hand washing. It’s a great colour.
I’d be interested to know if there was any colour transfer Sarah?
This colour is awesome!
Love love the colour! Might try to dye some white linen that way! 🙂
Oooh, ombre white linen!
Love how this turned out!!! Need to dye something with turmeric now…
Do it! 🙂
What a great idea to use Turmeric. My husband and I was just talking the other day about different things you can use to dye things.
Even better Yvonne….it smells lovely 🙂 (if you like the smell of turmeric that is!)
I dyed cotton in mu much the same way some years ago. I used it as a washcloth and to my surprise, the alkalinity of the soap turned the area blood red! It was yello after rinsing. However the dye gradually faded through normal use…. There must be a way to fix the colour. I believe turmeric is used as a dye in India… or is it saffron…?
Would like to know how your lovely yarn handles laundering.
I will keep you posted on that! How intriguing about the soap??! I believe both turmeric and saffron are used as dyes and I think produce a similar colour result but turmeric is obviously alot cheaper to dye with than saffron. Using Allum during the dyeing process can help fix colour but I haven’t tried it yet 🙂
Well that sounds much simpler than how I dyed my last skeins – and simple is what I like! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Nat! Sooooo easy! Px
This is amazing! I’ve been dyeing wool yarn in different food ‘stuff’s, now I need to add Turmeric to the list. It’s nice to know it dyes cotton as well, cause I have a big stash of white cotton that needs color. I have some experiments planned for that 🙂
The comment I woukd make is that vinegar would not be as appropriate for cotton (a cellose fibre) as soda ash. Vinegar is used in acid dyeing for wool & silk (protein fibres). I plan to try using tumeric to dye some wool yarn with this method. Most if us can attest to tumeric staining just abiut anything though. I’m excited to try using tumeric to dye with. I also prefer to use citric acid crystals instead of vinegar. 1tablespoon of citric acid = 1cup of vinegar.
Thanks Louise 🙂 Px
This is really neat! Pinned to my Useful Crochet board. Would love if you shared it at our Yarn Fanatic Party – http://eyeloveknots.blogspot.com/2015/05/yarn-fanatic-party-35-string-theory.html.
thank you so much . will love to try it soon.