Make your own dyes!

Ever wondered how people discovered and extracted dyes? Before we had chemical dyes people had to use natural materials to stain fabrics, as people (just like us now) liked to wear colourful clothing, just think about portraits of Henry VIII.

Discover and experiment with dyeing your own fabrics in this activity.

Isobel Staton

Adult supervision is required.

Type of Activity : Crafting

How many people required (minimum) : 1

Safety Measures : Adult supervision needed when handling the hot water and be careful when using the scissors.

Ages : 8+

Time Required: Up to 2 hours

Step 1

Cut your fabric up into strips about 10cm long.

Step 2

Boil the kettle

Step 3

To make the turmeric dye, first add a teaspoon of turmeric powder to a glass (or beaker), then add 200ml of hot water from the kettle and stir. Leave the mixture to cool.

Step 4

Once the turmeric dye has cooled seperate the mixture out into two glasses. Into one of these glasses, add a teaspoon of baking soda.

Step 5

To make the onion dye, peel the onion skins and place in a pan. To this pan add 300ml of water and bring to the boil, simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 6

After 10 minutes take the pan off the heat and leave to cool. Once cooled, strain the onion skins out and transfer the liquid into another glass.

Step 7

To make the dye with the tea, add a tea bag into a glass and poor in hot water from the kettle. Leave the tea bag in for about 5 minutes then remove with a spoon and leave the dye to cool.

Step 8

Once all the dyes are cool enough add a fabric strip into each glass. Leave the fabric to stain for about an hour and then leave to dry. Once the fabric is dry have a look at the colour, how are the two different turmeric dyes different?