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crochet, DIY, dyeing, how to, Knitting, Tutorials, yarn crafts

DIY: Turmeric Dyed Ombre Yarn

28th March 2015

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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!

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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!

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

In a stainless steel pan make a paste from 3 Tbsp of Turmeric and 2 Tbsp of White Vinegar….

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

Add 3 pints of water, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 mins to dissolve all the turmeric powder…

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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.

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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…

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

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!

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

Ball up your skein and admire the rich graduated tones of your new “zingy” yarn!

 

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

Thought you’d like to see how it knits up…

DIY: Ombre Turmeric Dyed Yarn at www.makery.co.uk

Seriously loving these tones!

Related

28 Comments

  1. susan sobon says

    28th March 2015 at 11:02 pm

    love this! do you need to add anything to make the dye colorfast or is the vinegar enough?

    Reply
    • portia says

      29th March 2015 at 2:35 am

      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…

      Reply
  2. Kate Carvalho says

    29th March 2015 at 2:33 am

    Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m definitely going to try it!!!

    Reply
    • portia says

      29th March 2015 at 2:37 am

      So glad you like Kate 🙂 I’m in love with the colour!

      Reply
  3. JJ says

    29th March 2015 at 4:55 am

    Oh gosh that’s a gorgeous color!!!!!!

    JJ
    http://www.dressupnotdown.blogspot.com

    Reply
  4. Charlotte says

    29th March 2015 at 8:19 am

    This looks fantastic – love the ombré effect. Turmeric is also one of the natural dyes I’ve been planning to try out.

    Reply
    • portia says

      29th March 2015 at 10:53 am

      Can definitely recommend it Charlotte!

      Reply
  5. Irene says

    29th March 2015 at 8:30 am

    This is a wonderful, rich colour! Do you think this procedure would work for fabric/garment dyeing?

    Reply
    • portia says

      29th March 2015 at 10:42 am

      Yes, absolutely Irene! Natural fibres for sure. Synthetics I’m not sure. Px

      Reply
  6. Irene says

    29th March 2015 at 8:31 am

    What a wonderful, rich colour! Do you think this procedure would work for fabric/ garment dyeing?

    Reply
  7. Sarah - Fabric Tragic says

    29th March 2015 at 10:12 am

    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.

    Reply
    • portia says

      29th March 2015 at 10:40 am

      I’d be interested to know if there was any colour transfer Sarah?

      Reply
  8. Toria says

    29th March 2015 at 11:33 pm

    This colour is awesome!

    Reply
  9. Isabel says

    30th March 2015 at 7:18 pm

    Love love the colour! Might try to dye some white linen that way! 🙂

    Reply
    • portia says

      31st March 2015 at 1:06 pm

      Oooh, ombre white linen!

      Reply
  10. Andrea says

    30th March 2015 at 10:26 pm

    Love how this turned out!!! Need to dye something with turmeric now…

    Reply
    • portia says

      31st March 2015 at 1:07 pm

      Do it! 🙂

      Reply
  11. Yvonne Dunmore says

    31st March 2015 at 4:23 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • portia says

      1st April 2015 at 7:00 am

      Even better Yvonne….it smells lovely 🙂 (if you like the smell of turmeric that is!)

      Reply
  12. JacqBrisbane says

    1st April 2015 at 3:50 am

    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.

    Reply
    • portia says

      1st April 2015 at 6:58 am

      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 🙂

      Reply
  13. Nat @ Made in Home says

    2nd April 2015 at 2:39 pm

    Well that sounds much simpler than how I dyed my last skeins – and simple is what I like! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • portia says

      2nd April 2015 at 8:20 pm

      You’re welcome Nat! Sooooo easy! Px

      Reply
  14. Karen Saari says

    14th April 2015 at 2:54 pm

    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 🙂

    Reply
  15. Louise in SW Saskatchewab says

    15th April 2015 at 10:23 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • portia says

      19th April 2015 at 1:52 pm

      Thanks Louise 🙂 Px

      Reply
  16. Alexandra says

    5th May 2015 at 1:18 am

    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.

    Reply
  17. mrs. s sinivasen says

    26th May 2015 at 10:06 am

    thank you so much . will love to try it soon.

    Reply

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