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Before you begin the process of naturally dyeing your plant based fibers, you’ll need to first prep it by scouring it.

Scouring essentially means cleaning the fabric.

It is the process of removing dirt and grease that plant based fibers likely accumulated during manufacturing and transit.

Scouring is important because it ensures even colour distribution and good penetration of your natural dye.

We will demonstrate how we scoured our undyed organic cotton that we got locally here in Texas from a farm called SOS.

This is the fabric I got and what I used to make my shirt!

https://sosfromtexas.com/collections/...




To begin with, you’ll need a couple of things. You can find these items at most grocery stores.


Marseille or Olive Oil Soap
Washing Soda
Ph neutral dish soap
Distilled Water (enough to cover your fabric)
Stainless steel pots
Stainless steel tongs
Water proof heat resistant gloves
Scale

Grab your fiber and weigh it using your scale. In our case, the fabric was 156 grams.
The soap should weigh 25% the fiber weight. So we used about 39 grams of soap. 25% of 156 grams equals 39 grams.
Cover your fabric with water in the pot. For every gallon of water you use, pour one tablespoon of washing soda!
Once everything is inside, simmer for two hours.
Rinse and wash with ph neutral soap. Make sure to always wear gloves!!! Your fabric is now ready for mordanting and dyeing!



Sources:

Natural Color Sasha Duerr (Book)
http://maiwahandprints.blogspot.com/2...