Burda Style For people who sew

Simple home dyeing process for yarn or fabric with food scraps from your kitchen. This is an eco-friendly project, a great way to upcycle your kitchen food scraps! All materials are non-toxic making this a great project to do with kids!

Technique Materials

Use cotton or wool fibers since they take the dye better. Vinegar (dye fixative. Use any or all listed; coffee grounds, spices, berries, vegetable scraps or food coloring.

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12 Comments

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  Jul 18, 2009, 03.52 PMby Lala86

  Thanks for your dying how to! I dyed a piece of cotton fabric some kind of canvas with purple paste food coloring.. the thing is.. for a darker color, I added blue as well.. I used a lot of vinegar and followed your steps. Then I let it on the dying water all night long, and at the morning something happened! the fabric absorbed all the magenta color and non of the blue, so the water turned into a great bright blue color and the fabric ended up with shadows of hot pink! the shadows pattern that the process created is great.. but I’m not so fan of the hot pink color so.. I don’t know what to do with it.. I was thinking of a large bag.. but I’m not sure how durable this color would be… what do you think? I have a lot of food colorants, so in the future I’ll try a green or yellow I think.. I’ll also try with a smaller piece of fabric..
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  Jun 15, 2009, 03.14 PMby Shamdoogle

  I’ve read a little about the use of marigolds and other flowers HERE
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  Apr 16, 2009, 07.20 AMby nenasew

  I want to try this. Do flower petal such as marigolds work?
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  Apr 8, 2009, 12.04 PMby Nieninque

  this is perfect! i’ll definitely try it
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  Apr 2, 2009, 08.15 PMby Hopie98

  This is a awesome craft, I HAVE to try it out!!!!
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  Mar 25, 2009, 01.33 PMby Shamdoogle

  Food coloring with a bit of vinegar added, according to the box. My colors have held up through a few different hand washings and hold their colors after drying. The colors always dry a lighter than they look wet. This was a really great tutorial for using food coloring, Earth Whisper Fiber Arts
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  Mar 24, 2009, 02.09 PMby kora-bean

  Is food colouring permanent? I have done a bit of veggie dying myself, and have found onion skins and assorted berries work quite well. Just a note for anyone trying beets: they make a fabulous colour for a few days and then fade to a light pinky-brown. Not good for dying.
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  Mar 23, 2009, 03.51 PMby Shamdoogle

  I’ve been anxious to try beets myself. I have a gut feeling it will work well and same for red cabbage. I assume any veggie/spice that stains your cutting board is probably a top dyeing contender. Cilantro just wasn’t strong enough. I also think cool colors may tend to get more muddled or washed out than brighter warm hues.
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  Mar 23, 2009, 02.38 PMby WonderWonder

  This is a great How To! I’d love to try!
  Did you or anyone tried with beets? I wonder if it will work.
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  Mar 23, 2009, 03.10 AMby tigasista

  Fabulous! You’re such a clever chicken!
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  Mar 21, 2009, 11.37 PMby ruk

  this is really great! the colors look really awesome.
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  Mar 21, 2009, 08.35 AMby callistacassady

  Awesome! I always wanted to know how that was done. Thank you.