What a gorgeous Saturday! We just couldn't bare to spend time inside today! So, we got out and created some art on the driveway! Tiny Hermione approves. :) <3
We also decided to tye dye some old napkins. Hopefully Grandma Alice would approve! I think they fit our home a bit better now. :)
We used all organic, homemade dyes. Here's how!
To make purple/ blue we boiled red cabbage in water, with a capful of apple cider vinegar, for about an hour. Then strained out the cabbage. This dye is not very bright. To really get a good color, your fabric has to stay in it for quite a while. We did get some lovely robin egg blues though (not enough patience from the littles :) ).
To make a beautiful pink/ magenta we used the coffee pot to steep hibiscus flowers in hot water. We did not add any apple cider vinegar, although, that might have helped the color be a bit brighter. As it was, letting the fabric set for about 10 minutes, in the strained liquid, got a pretty awesome color.
For our gorgeous yellow, we added roughly 4 Tablespoons of Turmeric to hot water and let it steep, covered, for about 20 minutes. This is my absolute FAVORITE color we did this year! The color took so easily!
Lastly, we made brown by steeping 4 or 5 tea bags of black tea in about 2 cups of water for 20-30 minutes. This worked, but it wasn't vibrant and tended to rinse out to much. I think we should have let the fabric sit for much longer.
Tell us if you try these and how you improve them! We'd love to hear any new ideas!
Our basic recipes for this came from Martha Stewart.