Eco Dyeing
This past week I made my way down to Billings, Montana to help out my gammie, who had just had surgery. It was so nice to spend time with her and to get some time in the "big city." One really fun project we did was eco dyeing scarfs. I have always wanted to test out this method of printing on fabric, but never took the time. It is a lengthy process so I won't go too much into detail.
Eco dyeing is all about using natural objects to add pigment to fabric. I think it's so fascinating that everyday, flowers, vegetables, and herbs can make so many colors! We used Costco flowers for our scarf experiment. We also made some really cute pictures out of flower petals before to get as much use out of them as possible.
I had to boil the fabric first, and then soak it in a mordant, like alum, so the colors would adhere better and brighter. Then we got busy filling the scarfs with petals and leaves, rolled them up, and then steamed them for two hours. The next day they hung on the porch all day to get oxidized. I think they turned out so cool! I will defiantly be planting my garden this year with lots of veggies and flowers I can use to make more scarfs!
Gammie was such a trooper to also model the scarfs for me, back brace and all! The scarfs came out looking very complex and antique looking. Ours were very gold toned with bits of maroon, and brown from the onion skins.