Natural Tie-Dye: How to Tie-Dye with Plant Dyes

Tie-dye is not a new trend. Everyone remembers the bright, colorful tie-dye of the 1960s and 1970s, when it stood for peace, love and freedom. Since then it has come and gone with fashion, and now it is back, this time with a more natural look and a new focus on a better future.

Classic tie-dye uses synthetic dyes, and reverse tie-dye uses bleach to make patterns. Mass production with these chemicals still causes a lot of environmental harm. So why not tie-dye your own clothes with natural dyes? It is fun, and you will love your garments even more knowing they were colored with plants.

Which natural dyes can you use for tie-dye?

Nature gives us many dyes, and some are in your kitchen, garden or local park: onion skins, avocado, turmeric, marigold, coreopsis, dyer's chamomile and more. Kitchen dyes are fun, but some, such as turmeric, red cabbage, beets and berries, fade quickly. For lasting color, choose proven dyes such as weld (yellow), madder (red), pomegranate (gold), red pine bark (brown) and, the classic for tie-dye and shibori, indigo (blue). Browse all our natural dyes.

To keep it simple, here is how to tie-dye with onion skins. Onion is one of the easiest natural dyes: it needs no mordant and is safe to use in your kitchen. It gives yellows, oranges and browns, and soft olive greens with iron.

How to tie-dye naturally with onion skins

What you need

• A natural fabric or garment: cotton, linen, wool or silk, such as our cotton tote bag, cotton socks or cotton shawl
• About 30 g of onion skins (two good handfuls) for 100 g of fabric for a strong color
• A large pot, string or rubber bands, and gloves

Step by step

1. Scour the fabric to remove oils and finishes. A mordant is optional but gives brighter, longer-lasting color. See how to prepare fabric for natural dyeing.
2. Tie the fabric. Wet it, then fold, twist, scrunch or pleat it and tie it tightly with string or rubber bands. The tied areas resist the dye and stay pale. Try a spiral (twist from the center), stripes (pleat and tie at intervals) or a crumple pattern.
3. Make the dye bath. Put the onion skins in the pot with enough water to cover the fabric. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes, then remove the skins if you like.
4. Dye. Add the tied, wet fabric and simmer for another 30 minutes. Let it cool in the bath for several hours or overnight, turning it now and then.
5. Untie, rinse and dry. Remove the ties, rinse until the water runs clear, wash with a pH-neutral soap and dry in the shade.

Extra tips

• The dye bath can be used again for paler shades. Just reheat it and add more fabric.
• For soft olive greens, dip the dyed fabric briefly in a weak iron solution, then rinse well.
• For a two-color tie-dye, dye yellow with onion or weld first, re-tie, and overdye in indigo for blues and greens.
• For full instructions on onion skin dyeing, read how to dye with onion skins, or watch our friend BillyNou dyeing with onion skins.

Related: Bundle dye tutorial · Dye-ready blanks · Natural dye kits