Dyeing socks with dahlias
Dahlias are the star of the early autumn garden
–those great flower heads glowing in low sunlight, the different shapes and colours making everything just a little jollier.
They are also a great dye plant –they give a really nice deep green (not bright like the flower heads) which appears to be light fast.
Another advantage is that the flowers don’t need to be pristine to go into the dye pot so you can put the flowers you are deadheading to one side and simply freeze them until you have enough.I find that this feeling of productivity helps me get through the dreaded dead heading at a cheerful clip, which is never quite there when everything is headed for the compost heap.
You need
- Pair of wool socks –I use 100% alpaca bed socks in the photos
- Mordant –10g alum per pair of socks
- Dye material
- Non cooking pan/sieve/tongs (pick these up from a charity shop or car boot sale and keep exclusively for dyeing –if you want to dye using your normal kitchen equipment see the note at the end)
Step 1. Collect your dahlia flowers. Any dahlia flowers work for dyeing apart from white varieties Massive dinnerplate dahlias, with their millions of petals are perfect as there is so much in each one, but the smaller anenome flowered and single ones work just as well, you will simply need to collect more of them.
Step 2. Store your flowers –you might want to build up your collection of flowers to make a single big pot of dye. You can either dehydrate all the flowers and store in paper bags or you can freeze them. I find that using twice the weight of flowers as you have wool works well. A pair of wool socks weighs approximately 100g, so try to get at least 200g petals together before you begin.
Step 3. Prepare your socks. Wool socks will need to be washed before you dye them. You can either wash by hand or on a wool setting in the washing machine.
Step 4. Mordant your socks. Use aluminium sulphate mordant to prepare your socks to that the dye will stick to the wool fibres. You need 10% the weight of your dry wool in mordant –so for a 100g pair of socks you need 10g mordant. Dissolve the mordant in a small amount of boiling water and then add to a bowl or tub of luke warm water, stir and add the socks. Leave to soak for 24 hours
Step 5. Make the dye pot. Simmer your dahlia flowers in water for 40 minutes and leave to steep overnight. Heat up again for 20 minutes and leave to cool before straining. You want there to be enough pigment in the water that you cannot see a spoon under the water. If it is too pale add in more flowers to the pot and bring to a simmer again.
Step 6. Add socks to dye pot. Add the wet socks to the dye pot, make sure there is enough water to cover them and add more if you need to. Adding water doesn’t make the dye weaker –that is dependent on the actual amount of pigment in the water, not the concentration.
Step 7. Gradually heat up the dye pot - you don't want to over heat the water and accidentally felt your socks - if you get it to a temperature where you can put your hand in, but only just, that is perfect!
Step 8. Hold that temperature in the pan for 40 minutes and then let it cool naturally. If you would like a darker colour (and remember it will dry much paler) then leave the socks to steep in the dye pot overnight.
Step 9. Rinse the socks in plain water until the water runs clear and leave to dry naturally.
Step 10. When they are completely dry put them somewhere dark to cure for a couple of weeks, this lets the dye settle into the fibres really well so it won't wash out.
Step 11. Wash with an eco detergent, dry, press and, if they are a gift, make them a wrap by cutting an A4 piece of paper in half lengthwise and decorating it.
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