Dyeing with turmeric

About 6 weeks ago, we were finally reunited with all the belongings that we'd left behind in a storage bay when we moved to Tassie. It's been almost 4 years since our move and while a lot of stuff hadn't been thought of in all that time, some had been sorely missed and eagerly waited for. 

The baby clothes from my little ones were some of the things that we really wanted because of course they are needed for the new arrival ...when it finally makes an entrance!! I had kept a lot of baby bits partly because I am a hoarder and also because I'm sentimental... I love to see my babes in blankets or jumpsuits that an older one has worn or that I'd made for my first born. 

And now I get to pass them on to a new generation! 

So when we unloaded all the boxes we immediately peeked into, and sorted out, some useful items for the new mama to take home. One of them was this tiny double breasted cardigan for a new born, which unfortunately had some stains near the neck. What to do? 

I had read about dyeing with turmeric before but not enough to be really sure of what to do - I was a bit worried that I would felt the jumper by putting it in hot water and stirring! 

Then just by chance I met a lovely lady at a little market who was spinning and selling wool that she had dyed with natural dyes such as paprika and turmeric. We had a good chat and she gave me some encouragement and a 'recipe' to dye my little jumper. Now I must stress here that I literally scribbled down her words as she spoke and I'm pretty sure this is how it goes although I feel it needs some fine tuning! She told me that it only works with animal fibres so I refrained from adding the white bunny rug that I'd planned to dye too! 

This is what she said...... and I did -

Fill a large pot with enough cold water to cover whatever you are dyeing and 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Add garment or wool and leave to sit over night. 

Next day, remove garment and squeeze excess water back into pot.

Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of salt and enough turmeric to make the desired colour.

Add garment and bring to simmering point.

Simmer for 5 to 10 mins using a wooden spoon to push the garment around gently. DON'T felt it!! 

Leave in pot to cool over night.

Rinse in cold water until water runs clear.  

You can see in the pic with the pot of water that the cardy is a bright orange colour - next time I'll go a bit easier on the turmeric. I added about 5 dessert spoons of the stuff and got a surprise when I pulled it out!! It reminded me very much of Buddhist monks and saffron coloured robes!

Once I'd rinsed it and rolled it in a towel to remove the excess water, the colour became a bit lighter but still several shades darker than I'd wanted. Even the buttons turned a bright yellow!

And then I hung it in the sun to dry....... and that was a mistake. It was a hot day, I went to town in the afternoon and when I returned and brought it inside I noticed the colour had faded in certain areas. I'm sure it was the sun because where it had been folded it was still quite bright.  

Now I'm not sure what to do - wash it and hope some more dye comes out to even it all up? Lay it in the sun with the dark bits showing and the rest covered? Or leave as is and see it as a lesson learned?