Time to Dye

There are many books and websites that give you more thorough instructions and explanation. I will give you quick and dirty directions (again, not an expert. At all).

1. Gather your supplies. Pits, pots (I recommend that large soup pot in the back of your cabinet that you never use but keep just in case you want to make a big batch of soup, but let’s face it, you live alone and are never going to make a big batch of soup), and fabric to dye.
2. Fill the pot (save the pot for future dyeing and not for cooking) with enough water to cover your fabric. I almost always never use enough water and still have decent results.
3. Add your pits to the pot. There is some ratio of pits to pounds, but I don’t know what it is. I just take a guess. The more fabric, the more pits. The more pits, the more color.
4. Boil your pits. I bring my pits to a boil and let simmer for about an hour before I add my fabric.
5. Wet your fabric and add to the pot. Simmer for about another hour, then turn off hear. Let your fabric soak. Depending upon how dark you want your fabric, you can soak an hour or you can soak overnight.
6. Rinse and dry. Once you have achieved the color you want, rinse your fabric until the water runs clear and hang it to dry. If you want more color, put it back in your dye pot.
7. ​Wash your fabric with a gentle soap (I use a few drops of dish soap because I’m in the kitchen and it’s handy). You could also throw your dyed fabric in the washing machine.​
8. Let dry and bathe in the oohs and aaahs from your friends and family.

Experiment with different fibers. I’ve tried cotton gauze, raw silk, and a scrap of dropcloth. The raw silk turned a dark pink, almost maroon. The cotton gauze turned a lovely, delicate pink. The dropcloth.. well, it just looked not so great. I want to try dyeing a cotton knit next time. I see lots of pink tee shirts in my future.

If you want to learn more about dyeing, these people know a lot more than I do.

Books about Dyeing
The Modern Natural Dyer by Kristin Vejar
Botanical Color at Your Fingertips by Rebecca Desnos

Dyeing with Avocados
Rebecca Desnos
Apartment Therapy
CUESA

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting short videos introducing you to the basics of the Oxford Punch Needle. Follow me on Instagram @modernpunch to stay up to date.

The first video of the series is “Types of Punch Needles.”