Must have been the Roses

Natural dyeing is beautiful. Your source of dye doesn’t have to be! Don’t get me wrong, I love taking a walk in the woods or on my dirt road and finding pretty little things to dye with. But your inspiration can come from anywhere if you open yourself up.

I was mid grocery run at my local store when I saw those sad bunches of flowers…wilting. Roses were buy one get one. I jumped right on it. I know that usually if you’re to do a rose dye bath you want them to be the most beautiful and have to most perfume. I just wanted to see what colors these sad babies could produce.

I saved them from the store and made them into something beautiful.

I did a few experiments. I already had a bunch of fabrics scoured and mordanted, ready to go. I did some eco prints, bundle dyes and a regular dye bath.

Bundle dye on Linen.

Now this didn’t come out how I expected. Before I learned about blankets in bundle dyeing. The color produced was still beautiful.

Bundle Dye on Linen 2.

Here I did another bundle dye on linen. I added dahlia petals from my garden along with little purple flowers I found on a walk.

In the Dye Pot

Linen, silk and cotton, all bunched up in the pot. I left the rose petals in to see if it would make a difference in color on the fabric it was up against.

It did in some areas. Creating an almost tie dye look.

Roses and Eco Print

My most favorite part of the rose dye day. I used a proper blanket to make an eco print. Used an assistant to make it darker.

I used rose petals and the rose’s leaves for this eco print.