Five Mistakes to Avoid in Natural Dyeing
(and how to fix them)

By Victoria Martinez Azaro

Summary: These are some of the most common mistakes that every natural dyer makes from time to time — and they’re absolutely worth keeping on your radar 🙂 I’ve personally made every single one of them!

 

In this post, I’ll walk you through the five biggest mistakes and show you exactly how to fix each one. When you avoid these pitfalls, you’ll be able to create the bright, rich, long-lasting colors on fabric and yarn that you see in the photos below.

MISTAKE #1: Not using natural fibers

Before starting the natural dyeing process, it’s super important to use 100% natural fibers (natural fabrics and natural yarns) when you are using natural dyes.

 

Synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon are not going to receive the natural color so you must avoid them.


Best natural fibers: 

  • wool
  • silk
  • cotton
  • linen
  • leather
  • feathers

The photo collage illustrates silks, wools and cottons which have all been naturally dyed. As you can see the colors are bright and intense! 

This photo illustrates what happens when you immerse 2 different yarns (which look exactly the same to the naked eye) into a cochineal dye bath, but one is acrylic wool blend and the other one is 100% merino wool.

 

As you can see the result is very different! The acrylic yarn barely absorbed any of the dye while the wool yarn accepted the color beautifully! 

 

How to fix mistake #1?

The best way to make sure that you are dealing with 100% natural materials is to perform a quick burn test.

The natural fibers will burn and disintegrate while synthetic fibers will burn into plastic beads or a plastic edge.

 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle for Beginners walks you though how to perform a burn test properly and how to avoid working with the wrong fibers.

MISTAKE #2 Weighing the fiber when it's wet

You must always know the weight of fiber before starting the natural dyeing process.


It’s important to remember to do this while the yarn or fabric is still dry. Otherwise the wet fiber will be heavier and the whole mordanting and dye percentages will be wrong!

 

How to fix mistake #2? 

Measure all your fibers at the beginning of the process.

 

Take note of this measurement since it will inform the amount of detergent, mordant and dye you need to use. 

 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle for Beginners walks you through this step in detail to avoid using wrong measurements and formulas! 

MISTAKE #3: Not mordanting the fibers

You must always mordant your fibers. Please remember that you need different types of mordanting processes depending on whether you are working with cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen or protein fibers such as silk and wool.

 

However not all dyes are made equal and some natural dyes (substantive dye) do not require a mordant in order to receive the dye.

 

But most natural dyes do require the use of mordants so it’s important not to skip this step!

 

How to fix mistake #3? 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle for Beginners walks you through the exact formulas and processes required to mordant cellulose fibers (cotton - linen) and protein fibers (silk- wool) so that you can create long lasting and bright natural color in all types of natural fibers. 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle 
(For Beginners)

🔥Bestseller for our beginner students

If you’ve ever dreamed of creating your own colors from nature — this is where it all begins!

Here's EVERYTHING you get when you purchase the Natural Dyeing Bundle!

  • La Creative Mama Natural Dyeing Manual
  • Natural Dyeing Masterclass Video
  • Solar Dyeing Guide
  • Natural Dyeing Workbook
  • BONUS #1: MULTICOLOR DYEING VIDEO CLASS
  • BONUS # 2: Eco Printing Manual
  • BONUS # 3: Eco Printing Video Tutorial (Cotton T-Shirt)

GET 50% OFF

MISTAKE #4: Using the wrong dyes

Another very common mistake is using the WRONG dyes.

A lot of my time as an educator is devoted to teaching which are the best natural dyes you need to use so that you can create bright and long lasting natural colors. 

 

Natural dyes such as cochineal, onion skins, madder root, eucalyptus are great dyes to start with! 

 

How to fix mistake #4? 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle for Beginners walks you through the exact natural dyes that you need to be using to create bright pinks, oranges, yellows and purples, even greys and greens are possible! 

MISTAKE #5: Felting your wool yarn

When dyeing wool yarn or roving, you must be super careful not to expose it to high temperatures.

 

The idea is not to shock the fiber and that means avoiding sudden changes in temperature (hot water, cold water) as well as avoiding friction.

 

How to fix mistake #5? 

The Natural Dyeing Bundle for Beginners walks you through the best way to avoid this which is to start the dyeing process using lukewarm water and to never allow the dye bath to reach boiling point.


Also it’s a good idea not to handle the fiber too much while inside the dye bath.

These photos illustrate the kind of color and texture that you can obtain from naturally dyeing your wool yarns. 

 

As you can see the color is a bright as in other fibers (if not brighter) and the texture should remain soft and supple so that you can knit, weave and crochet with it.

The Natural Dyeing Bundle 
(For Beginners)

🔥Bestseller for our beginner students

If you’ve ever dreamed of creating your own colors from nature — this is where it all begins!

Here's EVERYTHING you get when you purchase the Natural Dyeing Bundle!

  • La Creative Mama Natural Dyeing Manual
  • Natural Dyeing Masterclass Video
  • Solar Dyeing Guide
  • Natural Dyeing Workbook
  • BONUS #1: MULTICOLOR DYEING VIDEO CLASS
  • BONUS # 2: Eco Printing Manual
  • BONUS # 3: Eco Printing Video Tutorial (Cotton T-Shirt)

GET 50% OFF