Choosing the right plants to dye your fibres

Dyeing fibres with plant matter is an easy task, it’s finding the right plant matter that makes it a little more difficult... I want to talk a little bit about lightfastness, ph, colour fastness and stability. Some dyes produce stunning vibrant colours, such as turmeric and red cabbage. These colours can also be shifted by changing the ph- something you may or may not wish to do, however both colours are not light fast, and will fade with sunlight. They are not ‘stable’ colours. To achieve a ‘stable’ colour similar to turmeric, you may wish to consider marigold petals, which are not on sensitive, and stand well with sunlight. Red cabbage is not particularly light or colour fast, and if you’re looking to achieve that lovely pinky, reddish purple, why not fry logwood? It is a much more colour and light fast dye which also contains tannins- however again it can be ph sensitive. Finding the perfect dyes can be such a challenge! This is why experimentation is so important if you’re looking to naturally dye.