I found this natural indigo dye kit on Etsy and thought it would be a fun experiment to transform some stained/discolored garments I’ve had on hand for a while. I honestly don’t know why I buy white clothing in the first place- I have a dog and chickens and a compost pile that needs turning + I’m a daily coffee drinker and spiller.

My initial impression of indigo dye was that it’d be an easy introduction into the vast world of natural dying, because it doesn't require a mordant (something added to the dye, like iron and alum, to bond the dye to the textile). And therefore seemed simpler to me on the surface.

A high level summary of the indigo dye process is

Pre-wash your textiles
Prepare your dye vat 24 hours before you’re ready to dye
Dunk your textiles in the vat for ~30 min. then
Oxidize (leave them in open air) for ~30 min.
Repeat 4-12 times, depending on how dark blue you want them to be

If you’re tracking with me, 1 dunk = 1 hour, which would give you a veeery pale blue shade, like this dress.

So if you’re expecting a rich blue color similar to denim blue jeans, you’re looking at about 12 hours of dunking and oxidizing.

But the nice thing is, there’s no harm in leaving your clothes in the vat overnight, so you can stretch out the dunking process as long as you want.

After you’ve finished your desired # of dunks, now comes the REALLY laborious part

Dunk your textiles in water/vinegar solution to balance the PH
Rinse and rinse and rinse the excess dye off of your textiles until the water runs clear

I probably used 4 bathtubs of water to get the dye out of my 7 garments! And it was a lot of work to continually rinse and wring them out. I tried a couple different methods to save my hands from all the wringing, such as stomping on them like I was Lucille Ball in the vineyard.

After an hour or so of rinsing, I finally got the dye out and left my items on the laundry line to dry. Even though my dyeing was pretty uneven at times, I absolutely love the way they turned out.

The color gradient and ‘imperfections’ remind me of the blue sky.

Stained American Apparel thermal that I found at the Goodwill Bins - given new life with indigo.

Some takeaways from the process:

Natural indigo can be difficult and time consuming! In the name of efficiency, most denim manufacturers long switched over to using synthetic indigo (using things like formaldehyde, yikes). But much like everything in the modern world, with “efficiency” comes tradeoff, & something lost. In this case, the tradeoff includes chemicals that are both harmful to the earth and our bodies. Not to mention the less tangible / spiritual consequences of efficiency.

For example, I grew up with the mentality that clothing is disposable, like many in the West. Hell, we’re drowning in clothing- and if you’ve been inside a thrift store lately, you’re aware.

Salvaging clothing at the Goodwill bins- where unsold Goodwill merchandise goes.

With this lens, it might seem ridiculous to spend hours naturally dyeing a stained linen dress to extend its life a few years. There are hundreds of linen dresses everywhere-both new and used.

But I don’t think that we homo-sapiens just desire the consumption of mere products- hence why retail therapy never quite seems to scratch the itch for longer than a day or two. I believe we each have a deep desire to be more intimately involved in the ancient arts of survival and home-making. We desire to craft things with our hands, to experience the delight of delayed gratification, the tactile satisfaction of learning an ancient skill, and to wear something that is as unique as we are.

So in short, if you’re looking for a quick way to salvage a stained, white t-shirt, indigo dye might not be for you. Your local thrift store certainly has something that could suffice.

But for those looking to slow down and scratch a deeper itch, you might find this process so satisfying, & your appreciation deepened for the fibers that adorn your unique, beautiful, animal body- itself, a piece of Creation.

Happy dyeing :-)

PS, Julie with “The Love of Colours” gave me a 10% discount code, if anyone would like to try her natural dyeing kits. I don’t receive any money from this, and this is not a sponsored post :)

Code is WEARTRASH. https://www.etsy.com/shop/theloveofcolours

Indigo Dye & Living Less Efficiently

Wear Trash