I am a knitter and spinner and have always loved the art of dying the natural fibers, although I have very little experience from plant sources. There are so many plants that are safe for dying. The classics, such as onion skins, I have yet to try, and I am saving up all the dried crinkly outer skins that accumulate in my kitchen onion bowl. I notice whenever my birdbath gets a few peels of Madrone bark when it starts to shed , the water turns rusty. So, I am thinking today I will go out and collect some Madrone bark, maybe Manzanita as well.

Last year, I considered trying to get a hold of some indigo plant, the color which was used in the original blue jeans, and it is related to the pea family. It grows native in parts of Asia and even South America, I believe. Does anybody else have any interest in experimenting with their own garden's ability to make safe and natural dyes?

Yes! In fact I was looking up natural dyes just the other day. Between my interest in historical things, love of handmade things, and concerns for the economy, it just makes sense to look into self sufficiency at all levels.

I haven't dyed anything yet, but I have a ton of wild black walnuts on my property that are about to drop nuts and the hulls can be used for making woodstain and cloth/yarn/thread dye. I found a page on the web that gave recipes from Confederate newspaper articles for natural dyes back when the Union had blockaded all the ports, I just tried to find it just now and couldn't but had hand copied a bunch of the recipes that I thought I might try.

If you want a nice deep red-violet colour, I suggest using either raspberries or blackberries. My sisters and I picked some wild raspberries and brought them home. I made a sorbet out of them, and by the time I was done, my hands were a nice lovely shade of red-violet.

You can also use this site: http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html

Very informative, and tells you what fixative to use

wow...this thread brings back wonderful memories about my grandma.

She used beets to dye lovely hankerchiefs for her granddaughters.

It was an honor for us when we became young women to receive our pretty pink hankies,with our names embroidered.

I still have mine.And I treasure it.

Country Kitty~ I've heard about Black Walnuts making a good stain. Finger stain too !
Chris J ~ Thanks very much for the link, that's a good one ! I never thought berries were a color fast dye (color lasting through wash) , but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Wild Blackberries around here are ripening about now too.
LilySue~ Awesome memory about your grandma. Another reason to grow beets. That makes me want to make handkerchiefs , for sure.

I wonder what basil would do. I currently have a stained thumbnail from pinching the flowers off of the plants.

--J--

Golden Marguerite (yellow chamomile), Rue roots, Woad are used for natural dyes...

There's a book (no, haven't thumbed through it) by Rita Buchanan about natural dyes that's not too expensive (under $15).

Wow, reading this thread takes me back to my 4-H days. I was inspired by the Little House book Farmer Boy and happily began in basketry. I made some lovely berry pink bread baskets for my Mom and sisters using cranberries for a dye. I haven't used it in years but you may want to check out Rodale's Illiustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs from Rodale Press. Mine is from 1987 and I got it at a garage sale for $5 in 1998. It comprehensively covers common and uncommon (including a lot of historical & Victorian) plants. It gives great instructions on what and how to use plants to acheive all sorts of colors for dye.