Use chamomile to dye wool and other fibers and to make a beautiful range of yellow colours with this free tutorial. Natural dyeing with chamomile is easy and yields great results. In this guide, you will also learn how to identify chamomile, where and when to pick them, and how to get more than just one colour from your dye pot.
What you need to know before dyeing with Chamomile
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What colours does chamomile dye make?
A variety of yellows depending on the length of time it is simmered in the dyebath. Modifiers such as washing soda (aka soda ash) will also change the colour; washing soda produces a golden yellow. The results are similar to using Queen Anne’s Lace.
What variety of chamomile should I use?
Most dyers use Dyers chamomile, named for its dyeing potential. However, other chamomile varieties can be used. I used Scentless chamomile (Tripleurospermum inodorum), which is invasive in my area and highly abundant. Given this, I recommend trying any variety of chamomile that is easily collected in large quantities, as the quantity you use will also dictate the successes of your experiment. My success with scentless chamomile, which doesn’t have a reputation as a dyestuff, yielded excellent results which were hugely satisfying, so why not try what is on hand?
Alternatively, if you would like to try dyers chamomile, you can buy the dried plant here or the seeds to plant in your garden here.
What part of the plant to use?
You can use the whole plant, but for the best results use only fresh blooming flower heads, as I did in these instructions.
How to identify chamomile?
Chamomile looks like a daisy; the flower has a yellow middle and white petals surrounding it. It grows low to the round but can attain a height of 1 meter. Scentless chamomile is distinctive in that it is scentless but is otherwise daisy-like. In contrast, dyers chamomile has yellow edge petals which make it stand out from other chamomile varieties. Unlike daisies, chamomile has feathery or lacy leaves, and the stems are highly branched.
Tip: Buy a good plant identification guide for the area you live in. Although chamomile doesn’t have any poisonous look-alikes, there are other dye flowers that do (Queen Anne’s Lace for instance). I use Plants of Coastal British Columbia, as my go to field guide.
Where to find chamomile?
Fields, pastures, roadsides, and disturbed soils.
When to pick chamomile?
When it is in bloom. I picked in early September, but it blooms from May to October.
Dyeing with chamomile instructions
This dyeing method works best for wool yarn, roving and silk. However, it will work with cotton and linen, but the colours are more subdued.
Note: I used 368 grams of scentless chamomile flower heads to 40 grams of wool. However, I’m sure you could use much more wool if you have it as once I was done, there was still plenty of dye left in the dye solution. Likely a 3:1 ratio of chamomile to wool would be fine too.
You will need
For a complete list of the equipment you will need, take a look at the supply list in the What is natural dyeing and how to make natural dye.
Follow the procedure laid out in How to make natural dye with avocado pits and skins, as they are the same.
Note: With some natural dyes mordanting the fiber with alum is optional, however, if you are using yellow dyes, like chamomile, you must pre-mordant your fiber. In other words, if you don’t mordant your fiber the yellow dye will not take.
Make different colours when dyeing with chamomile
Before you get started on the dye procedure, decide what colours you would like, you may decide you want only one or two, or you may want to try to re-create all the colours available.
How to make a pale yellow
A pale yellow can be achieved by simmering your wool in the chamomile dyebath for 2 hours.
Tip: Using a white ladle, check your wool every ten minutes if you are trying to achieve pale colours.
How to make a sunshine yellow
Dissolve a tablespoon of washing soda (or soda ash) in a jar and add it to your dyebath to achieve beautiful sunny yellows, then simmer for 1 hour.
How to make a golden yellow
To intensify the colour, let your dyebath steep over night after simmering for a few hours. This golden yellow was achieved by adding washing soda, simmering for a few hours, and then soaking overnight.
Idea: If you would like to know why adding an alkaline modifier, such as washing soda, deepens the yellow colour check out Catherine Ellis’ explanation in The Effect of pH on Yellow Dyes from the Garden.
Greens
How to make deep forest greens and yellowy olive greens can be achieved by placing your dyed fiber in a copper or iron mordant. This effect is detailed in the Instructions on dyeing with Queen Anne’s Lace.
Tip: Learn how to make your own mordant using the instructions in this article, or buy them here.
Warning: When using mordants always wear personal protective equipment, such as gloves, safety glasses and long sleeves.
Other dyeing techniques
Variegated yarn: using tie-dye techniques of tying the yarn in places with elastic bands, you can create alternating stripes of pale and dark yellow colours throughout the wool.
Ombre yarn: by dipping just a half of the wool into the dyebath, you can create a white and yellow ombre pattern to the wool. For detailed instructions on how to do this, see Dyeing wool with turmeric: a step by step guide.
Overdyeing: using chamomile dye wool to overdye blue wool will give you green of course! Check out wooltribulations for her experiments with overdyeing with dyers chamomile.
Solar dyeing with Chamomile
Solar dyeing with chamomile is quick and easy. If you are doing this in summer, you should see a result within a day or two. However, for best results leave the fiber in the solar dye for at least a week and remember to stir it once a day and place it in the sunniest spot you can find. If you are hoping for a golden yellow, dissolve a tablespoon of washing soda in boiling water and once it is cool stir it into the solar dye jar.
Note: I used 200 grams of chamomile flower heads to 30 grams of fiber (linen, silk and wool yarn). The solar dye reached 36 degrees Celsius and steeped for a week before I took the fiber out.
Tip: Put the Chamomile flower heads in nylon mesh bags and secure the top with an elastic band to stop the petals from getting stuck in your wool.
Storing chamomile for later use
Chamomile may only be in bloom from May to October, but you can dry it or freeze it for use in the winter months.
Colour pairing
The beautiful yellows you get from dyeing with chamomile pair nicely with pure white and a soft grey made from avocado dye with an iron mordant.
Other tutorials you might like
Books on Natural Dyeing
If you are interested in learning more about natural dyeing, check out these books. They include The modern natural dyer by Kristine Vejar, The handbook of natural plant dyes by Sasha Duerr, and A Weaver’s Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers by Rita Buchanan.
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