Natural Dyes

Dyers’ Chamomile (Anthemis tinctoria)

Beautiful daisy flowers which yield a strong yellow dye, the flower heads are harvested and used when freshly picked or dried for winter storage.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius)

An annual herb which produces tufts of orange-yellow, thistle-like flower heads, yielding a yellow or red dye.


Woad (Isatis tinctoria)

An ancient plant of up to 120cm tall, once grown around the Fenland areas in East Anglia and is undergoing a revival today for its wonderful blue dye; it produces a mass of yellow flowers followed by purple-brown seeds.


Tea (Camellia sinensis)

I use tea bags to give a range of earthy shades, and due to the natural tannins in tea, no mordant is required which means it really is a chemical free process.

Fullers’ Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)

The teasel plant grows to two metres tall in the summer months with blue flowering seed-heads and down-ward pointing hooks. Rods of tightly packed teasel heads, as many as 2,500-4,000 may be used, a length of wool cloth is passed from one roller to another underneath, then in the opposite direction, raising the nap gradually depending on finishing requirements. The U.K. cloth trade requires around 14 million teasels per year, finishing some of the finest wool fabrics.