Fabric dyeing with carrot tops – home dyeing

Here is a blog on fabric dyeing with carrot tops. I am using wild carrots tops which are easily found in the woods sometime around summertime. Also known as Queen Anne’s lace or Daucus carota as the flowers resembled of lace patterns. One can also use domestic edible carrot tops from supermarkets or homegrown. It is one great way to use food waste before composting. It’s only the tops that will yield colour. While this colour may not last forever, it’s nice to know that colour can be obtain from them.

How to find them

They easily identifiable by the distinctive carrot smell when it’s harvested. Examine closely you will find the leaves what you in carrot tops/ leaves in supermarket. However wild carrots are not edible or matured plants have got Any or much roots that resemble domestic carrot.

Fabric dyeing with carrot tops

If using domestic carrot tops first trim away the tops set aside. I have only use wild carrot tops as they are abundance in the summer. It’s ok to leave a day or two once harvested and the colour will remain vivid.

To make a dye one will need to boil the carrot tops so as to release their colours. Like any fabric dyeing process always use a pot just dedicated/ set aside for fabric dyeing.

The use of mordant

Using mordant during pre and post dyeing process will deepen or brighten the colour. Of course this change of colour depends on what type of mordant is used and the type of fibre is use for dyeing. In this dye process, I have used 100 % cotton, silk and wool fibres. And for mordant I have pre mordant with alum. Iron mordant was use as post dye mordant. I have used on its own and one that has been pre mordant with alum. So as a result 4 different shades is achieved. So do go ahead and explore the colour spectrum possibilities is endless (well definitely more than 4 to about 25).

For more post on using have a look at my other blog posts on fabric dyeing using avocado and onion skin. In my opinion they make more lasting colours than carrot tops.