African American Fabrics: Eco-Friendly Dyeing with Food

"Power of the Vote", by Kweli Kitwana (c) 2012

Exploring and working with fruit, veggies, herbs, tea sand coffee dyed fabrics, requires and eye for working with natural and rustic looks. These pigments will result in uneven and varied tones. Take time to play around and make samples. I keep notes on my outcome for future reference. When thinking about your project, always consider the colors that inspire!!



How to Dye with Tea, Coffee, Fruit and Veggies
Supplies you’ll need to cook your brew:

• Water
• Salt or vinegar
• Cooking pot ( a spare that you don’t use for cooking food)
• Measure cup
• Strainer
• White, off white or light colored natural fabric (linen, organic cotton, wool and silk are best)
• Some sort of plant, flower, berry, root, bark, etc to dye with

I began by prepping your "food" (some items may require experimenting with using both the skin and "pulp") for example concord grapes or plums I use only the dark burgundy red skins.

Always use salt or vinegar as a dye fixative, using fruit for dye or, if using flowers, leaves, plants etc – then it is suggested to use vinegar.
The recipe I found was this:(you can find others online)

• SALT FIX: 1/2 CUP SALT TO 8 CUPS COLD WATER
• VINEGAR FIX: 4 PARTS COLD WATER TO 1 PART VINEGAR

I simmered my fabric in the salt fixative for approx. 1 hour, then rinsed and rung out – before putting the fabric in the dye.  Once the fabric had the fix in it, I added it with my "food pigment" in some fresh water and simmered those for another hour. 

In this post photo you will see, I am working with inkjet printed and stenciled fabrics. The process of printing on your fabric is rooted in several tips:

• You most understand your printer's ability to print and the limitations of printing in your printer. Some times this requires a bit of bravery. Let's face it, not many people are willing to put fabric through their printers. I suggest you make sure you have a removal printer head that can me cleaned (check you printer's manual). 
• Use fabric that has been washed and pretreated with Bubble Jet Rinse ( a product created by and sold by www.cjenkinscompany.com an American American company.
• Be aware that these prints have limits, they will fade after multiple washes. So, consider this when you use them in your project.