Natural Clothing Dye

I got a new white H&M cardigan from a clothing swap last spring. Unfortunately, I wore it about three times and then noticed that some of the sleeve had turned blue due to a laundry mystery (we had some other victims from that load, and I still don't know what happened. I blame my neighbors...) I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't want to just throw it away. I thought that maybe I should just dye it something dark blue or purplish, but I didn't want to buy a box of strong chemicals. I did some research and found these two articles about DIY: Natural Non Toxic Dyes and this article on color inspiration. I know that the color won't absorb as well for this fabric since it is a cotton/nylon blend, but cotton, wool, anything natural will work well for home dying with natural ingredients.

Basically, I started by simmering the sweater in a fix of 1/2 cup salt in 8 cups of cold water for an hour. Then I rinsed and rung dry. Meanwhile, I skinned a cup of blueberries (took a long time) and had them simmering in a solution of water and vinegar (4:1). The whole apartment stunk. I did that for an hour, strained out the blueberries, and lightly heated the sweater in the deep purple solution for another hour. I am actually do this for a second time because I made the mistake of not letting the sweater dry flat, so you won't have a picture of me wearing the sweater until next week, but I promise I will update! Doing it a second time is also making it a little darker since I only used the cup of blueberries. It's a pretty pinky- purple right now.

Next week, look for info on Sunday Crafternoons and a home ownership update!

Peace!

1/9/12 Update! It's done! In the end it turned into the light lavender color that, though I was not expecting, I am very pleased with. I definitely think more blueberries would have equalled a darker color, but since they are not in season, I was a bit cheap. The stains I was trying to cover up are not noticeable and my former white cardigan with blue spots has new life as a lavender sweater. You can tell the contrast between the buttons and the sweater (the bottoms were white, as it was before). Peace!