Question
What fruits make the best dyes for fabric?
Emily
Answer
<P>Hi Emily!<BR><BR>Thank you for sending your question to AskNSDL. Since I knew that cherries and grape juice can easily stain fabrics, I thought I would find lots of information on the Web on natural fruit dyes. That wasn't the case, but I did retrieve a few good results.<BR><BR>I used Google, <A href=http://www.google.com">http://www.google.com</A>, and performed two separate searches.<BR><BR>1. I searched using this string of terms: "natural dye" fruit fabric. <BR>* KIDSGARDENING.COM FROM THE NATIONAL GARDENING ASSOCIATION presents a webpage that discusses how to dye fabrics. Look toward the bottom of the page for a table on plants that can be used in dying fabrics. It includes fruits like mulberriers and wild grapes for purple, elderberries for blue. <BR> <A href=http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/may03/pg1.html">http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/may03/pg1.html</A><BR><BR>2. The second search was broader: dye fruit fabric.<BR>* Paula Burch's website and blog posts a question from a student about her Science Fair project that asks about the best dyes for cotton. Paula describes the process for "mordanting" cotton in order to make the dye stick.. She doesn't offer suggestions on which fruits to use, though. <A href=http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyelog/B1063361308/C1605100905/E972132126/index.html">http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyelog/B1063361308/C1605100905/E972132126/index.html</A></P>
<P>I hope this information helps. It could be fun to experiment with different fruits to see for yourself which fruits make the best dyes once you follow the recommended practices. <BR><BR>Be sure to visit your local librarian for more materials that are available on this topic, too!<BR><BR>Have a great day!<BR><BR>Joyce W.<BR>Librarian/AskNSDL staff</P>
http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/projects/may03/pg1.html
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyelog/B1063361308/C1605100905/E972132126/index.html
natural dye, fruit, mordanting
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