Natural Dyeing Tips for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
- Words by Peppermint
Part experiment, part craft activity, the magical process of natural dyeing is a fun way to freshen up old wardrobe faves and reconnect with nature in the process. The brainchild of Katie Wilkins, Studio Tinta is a natural dye studio creating sustainable textiles using botanical dyes and natural fibres. With a range of made-to-order silk pillowcases, eye masks and scrunchies, each Studio Tinta piece is manufactured in Melbourne then hand-dyed in Newcastle in a zero-waste process with compostable packing!
Drawing colours from natural materials, Katie is now on a mission to make the creative process of natural dyeing accessible to everyone. Her latest venture is an online Natural Dye School, teaching participants how to make vibrant dyes from her extensive recipe collection before applying them to fabric to create unique, multi-coloured patterns. Enrolments for the course are open now so why not sign up today for fun winter projects galore!
Before you get started though, Katie has provided us with a nifty beginner’s guide to natural dyeing so you can live to dye another day.
INTRODUCTION
Natural dyeing is not only fun (and addictive!), but it’s an amazing way to breathe new life into your old textiles. Rather than throwing out your stained white tees or your old sheets, you can make them new again using plants you can find in your own environment. Each colour and pattern is completely unique, and you’ll end up with creations you’ll treasure for years to come. It’s a sustainable and affordable way to update your home and wardrobe.
This guide is designed as an introduction give you an overview of how natural dyes work and how you can make them at home from things you find in your pantry, scraps from your kitchen and plants in your garden. I hope this is the start of lots of fun experiments with natural colour.
EQUIPMENT
There are a few essential items needed to start dyeing at home. For safety reasons, you shouldn’t use your cooking pots for dyeing unless you are only using edible dye plants. You can find perfect dyeing equipment at your local secondhand store.
– Stainless steel pot
– Stainless steel tongs
– Stainless steel strainer
– Plastic bucket or tub
– Rubber gloves
– Stainless steel/wooden pegs
FIBRES
CELLULOSE FIBRES
Cellulose fibres, or plant fibres, are made from plants. These include fabrics like cotton, linen, hemp and bamboo. These fabrics are the most appropriate for vegans, as synthetic fibres aren’t recommended for natural dyes.
ANIMAL FIBRES
Animal fibres, or protein fibres, have different molecular structures to fibres made from plants. These most commonly include silk and wool. These fibres have a natural affinity for natural dyes and are great for beginners.
MORDANTS
The word mordant comes from the French verb ‘mordre’, meaning ‘to bite’. In other words, a mordant is a substance used to help the dye ‘bite’ or bind to the fibre. A mordant helps you achieve colours that are brighter, deeper and more colourfast. The most common mordants include metal salts such as aluminium or iron, or natural mordants made from plants high in tannin, such as oak galls, or oxalic acid such as rhubarb leaves.
Mordants you can purchase:
– Aluminium acetate
– Aluminium sulphate
– Ferrous Sulphate
– Tannin
Mordants you can make at home:
– Iron water using rusty objects
– Soy milk binder
– Mordant from rhubarb leaves
– Mordant from dyes high in tannin
To learn more, sign up to hear more about the online Natural Dye School and you’ll receive the free Natural Dyeing For Beginners e-book! Thanks to the lovely team at Studio Tinta, we’re also stoked to be able to offer our gorgeous Peppermint community an exclusive discount of 10% off the course price! Sign up today using the code Peppermint10 – valid until 30 June 2021.
photos ZOE LONGERGAN
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TOGETHER WE STITCH RETURNS! 🪡✨
Ditch the dishes. Clear your cutting table. Pop the kettle on. Because Together We Stitch is back from 15 to 22 March for seven joy-filled days of sewing, learning and reveling in the joy of shared community, no matter where you are in the world!
Hosted by Megan from @SewAndTell.Co, this global online sewing event brings thousands of makers together for a week of practical know-how, confidence boosts and those “why didn’t I know this sooner?!” moments.
This year’s line-up is packed with masterclasses and practical inspiration, like:
🪡 Simple knit finishing tricks to make your garments look store-bought by @SewAndTell.Co’s Megan Linley
🪡 Troubleshooting your sewing machine by Jenni Miller from @LetsGetSewingNow
🪡 Hands-on pattern adjustments for sway back from @GinaReneeDesigns
🪡 An interview with Brandon Hayden from @HappilyDressed about building a garment around the fabric you love
🪡 Iron Care 101 by @MicheleMuska
🪡 Kate Boyle from @MindMovementHealth shares posture tips and exercises to help prevent sewing aches and pains
🪡 An easy jeans-to-skirt upcycle project from @LaCreativeMama’s Victoria Martinez Azaro
🪡 DIY custom fabrics and creative craft-room upgrades by Stephanie Young from @So_Stephanie_Says
🪡 Plus choosing prints with intention, making your dream wardrobe a reality, and meeting the creator of Project & Cut, Clinton Blackmore to talk all things PDF pattern future
Together We Stitch is all about expert-led sessions, creative demos, practical tips you can take straight to your sewing table, and a community that celebrates every win along the way. Join live or catch the replays when it suits you.
Head to togetherwestitch.com or hit the link in bio to save your seat. 🪡
#TogetherWeStitch #SewingExpo #SewingInspo #MeMade #SewingCommunity #SewistsOfInstagram
Coffee begins long before your morning cuppa! ☕️
2026 has been declared the International Year of the Woman Farmer, led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the @UnitedNations. It’s a global spotlight with a practical purpose: to recognise women’s indispensable roles across agrifood systems, and to push for the changes that still haven’t arrived evenly, like equal access to land, finance, training, technology and decision-making.
Into that bigger picture steps Elizabeth Duna, a coffee farmer from Papua New Guinea and the chairwoman of the Keto-Tapasi Progress Association. Elizabeth is also the only female chairperson across the @FairtradeANZ cooperative network in the Pacific, overseeing farmers across the association and helping ensure Fairtrade standards are met.
We had the privilege of chatting to Elizabeth (just in time for International Woman’s Day this Sunday, too!) about what’s been growing and changing within her cooperative, what ‘fair trade’ means to her, and the hopes that manifest in a ‘simple’ bag of coffee beans.
Link in bio ☕️
#FairTrade #FairTradeCoffee #InternationalWomensDay
DIFFICULT ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿
The collab we needed for International Women`s Day… and every day!
From @DangerousFemales:
"Hands up if you’ve ever been called difficult behind your back, to your face, or by an Australian Prime Minister during a Q&A?
DIFFICULT by Grace Tame, in her own handwriting is… one word: ICONIC!
100% of profits from our tees are donated, 100% of the time. Funds from this @TamePunk tee will go to @BerylWomen_inc, a First Nations led women’s refuge in the ACT.
Kinda ironic, don’t ya think?
Supporting an org in the parliament state with words from a politician for Australia’s longest running and underfunded women’s refuge.
Thank you @TamePunk for being difficult." 🫶🙌
Link in bio to get behind this tee!
#InternationalWomensDay #DangerousFemales #GraceTame #Difficult
NEW PATTERN ALERT 🎉
She’s giving comfort, she’s giving style, she’s giving palate-cleansing sewing. There’s nothing quite like an easy breezy dress that’s not only a dream to wear but a delight to sew, and the NEW Peppermint Myrtle Shift Dress delivers!
Cute, classic and cool with a touch of retro: the Myrtle Shift Dress is a beginner-friendly make with sleek lines and elegant curves. Bust darts are in play for shaping and spacious pockets to hold all your treasures. Top-stitching detail around the neck and armholes invites creative contrast threads and the keyhole loop closure at the back neck begs for a feature button (or a tie closure!).
Myrtle cuts above the knee with options to customise the length. Don’t think she’s reserved for hot weather either: try a heavier-weight fabric to turn your Myrtle into a pinafore-style garment for layering.
For our fabrics we chose two from @Karmme_Apparel – the bold Rottnest Stripes in a lightweight, soft-drape cotton, and the quality linen in the handpainted Mexico Collection. Karmme also stocks darling tassels so we popped a hot pink one on as a closure!
The love child of Imby Langenbach, Karmme Apparel (fittingly pronounced ‘calm’), is a haven of boho apparel sewing patterns alongside complementary fabrics steeped in tradition with modern iterations from Jaipur, India. Hand block-printed and digitally printed soft cottons produced by Indian artisans showcase rich colours and designs from Imby’s travels, perfect for showing off me-made masterpieces.
Our dresses were superbly stitched by our sewing manager @Laura_The_Maker, and modelled magnificently by Shannon @Pins_And_Tonic and Serah @SerahSews. And that perfect pink wall was courtesy of the good folk at @ShareTheDignityAustralia, an organisation that aims to bring dignity to women, girls and those who menstruate who are experiencing homelessness, domestic violence and period poverty.
Get making the Myrtle – the only question is, can you stop at just one?
Link in bio 🪡
Photos: @KelleySheenan
Sewist: @Laura_The_Maker
Patternmaker: @GarmentaApparel
Models: @SerahSews and @Pins_And_Tonic
Fabric: @Karmme_Apparel
#PeppermintMyrtleShiftDress #PeppermintPatterns
Connection 🫶🏻
Such great ideas from @GrowWithColby:
“A common theme I noticed in 2025:
Everyone is craving more connection.
Use these friend nights to make it happen in 2026.
Send this to the people you want to do these with.”
#Connection #Friends #Community
No bull - these pants are the cat`s (or cow`s) pyjamas...
Jenny from @RhubarbSundays:
And they are done! My @PeppermintMagazine #PeppermintFernPleatedPants made using a gorgeous fabric from @IndyBindyFabrics! I absolutely love this fabric! It’s soft and drapes beautifully. And the best thing about it is that, from a distance, it looks like an abstract print and then you look closer and theres a curious bull looking right at you. 🤣🤣 🐄 🐮
Really happy with the end product. They are very comfy! I didn’t make many changes to the pattern. Just a touch more room in the rise and a little bit off the waist. I’ll post some closeups of the details tomorrow when I actually take them off. 🤣 "
Grab the pattern from the link in bio!
#PeppermintPatterns #IMakeMyOwnClothes #ClothesThatFeelLikePyjamas #SewersGonnaSew
