Tag: NaturalDye Page 2 of 8

A piece of 6,000-year-old fabric, dyed indigo blue. (Lauren Urana)

Researchers found evidence of indigo dyed fabric in Peru from over 6,000 years ago! How cool is that? This dates further back than previously found indigo from Egypt (by over 1,500 years).

While the yarn was curing, I decided to put a few pieces of fabric into the dye bath and see what would happen. I mordanted a piece of silk with alum acetate and then folded, stitched, clmaped and tied them. I left them in the dye bath for a week. The daily temperature has been in the high 80F. In the pot, I think it reached about 100F.

This is what the fabric scraps looked like after a week. It took several days before the color started to show, but once it did, it developed quickly. I will let it cure for a few days before I rinse them.

The dye bath still had color but it really started to smell. So, out it went.