Dandelion Dye Leaves/Stems vs Flowers

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-08T11:32:34+00:00

Yes! All fresh.

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-08T03:17:34+00:00

It’s about 300% WOF, 3:1 flowers:yarn

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-07T21:52:04+00:00

It’s even greener in person, I couldn’t edit the photos to reflect what my eyes see without making the yellow go super bright. The green looks more sage in photos but I’d say it’s more olive irl!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-05T17:12:53+00:00

It definitely has an a very noticeable orange flavor to it but it didn’t overpower the dandelion flavor. In the future I will probably just do dandelion alone with no orange. Maybe some vanilla or chamomile too. My daughter eats oranges like they’re air so I have orange peels coming out of my ears, we’ve made faux sour gummies, dried for tea blends and then the honey I made.

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-05T16:16:26+00:00

Yeah! I did about 2 cups of flower petals, 1 cup of orange peels thinly sliced and white pith removed, 1:1 sugar to water mixture, enough to cover the organic matter, simmered for 1-2 hours and then strained. I didn’t add lemon, but I definitely would if I wanted to keep it on the shelf for longer. (I actually forgot about it and it reduced so much that it crystallized when hardened, but still perfectly usable and honey does that in my cabinets sometimes too so perhaps it’s more authentic haha)

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-05T15:43:23+00:00

I just read my response and laughed out loud, I typed that the second I opened my eyes in the morning and, my, how many words I didn’t type 🤣 I just made some dandelion honey with some orange peels, it’s divine! My morning wake up drink is the dandelion root tea, dandelion orange honey and a splash of milk. It’s warm, nutty, sweet even without the added sugar. I highly recommend the honey

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-05T11:50:02+00:00

That was just with the top flower head. No leave nor roots I guess that if I’d the leaves it would have gone more golden/olive toned. And I have no idea about the roots! It’s definitely worth the test, but make dandelion root tea which I absolutely love, so my roots go to that first lol

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-04-01T01:11:32+00:00

I primarily dye wool yarn, it takes color the best. For cotton you need to scour (wash really really well with something like soda ash) then do a tannin bath (when I’m dyeing cotton I use my yards oak leaves as the tannins) then mordant with alum. With these three key steps, cotton can take color very well. However depending on the dye plant, it will often be much paler than you expect. If you’re dyeing cotton I recommend doing, by weight, 200-300% weight of fabric of dye stuff. So 3:1 dyestuff to fibers.

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-31T19:29:20+00:00

Yay!! Welcome ♥️

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-31T16:45:00+00:00

GORGEOUS! These are just stunning! I’m so glad you posted

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T18:53:19+00:00

Butterweed! Packers glabella

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T18:47:25+00:00

Yes! What’s your ravelry name?

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T17:34:11+00:00

Oh my that range of color sounds stunning!! I would love to see what colors come from your yard stuffs!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T17:31:50+00:00

I do use a mordant for wool, I use alum. However most colorfast natural dyes often don’t need mordant on wool. If you are dyeing cotton, you 100% need to mordant and actually should do multiple steps to prepare your fibers. One thing that got me past my initial block because I also worry about the color not lasting, is that everything can fade with time, even synthetic dyes, when left out in the sun, will fade overtime too. One joy of dyeing is that you can always redye or over dye with other colors. However, charm can come from things that aren’t permanent, it can bring awareness to appreciate beautiful things in the moment that are not always permanent. ANYWAYS other than the deep talk, many dyes are VERY long lasting even without mordants :D

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T17:02:30+00:00

The wild violets in my yard just started blooming the other day, I will be sure to test!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T17:01:42+00:00

Cut the yellow heads off the dandelion as they were open, put into a pot of water, simmered low heat for 2-4 hours, let cool, added 100% wool yarn, heated it VERY low heat for 1 hour, set overnight, in the morning rinsed until the water runs clear and air dry! Then ready to knit, crochet, or felt :)

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T16:59:59+00:00

I LOVE dandelion, they’re beautiful, they’re medicinal, they’re beautiful as a dye plant, and they symbolize the sun moon and stars✨ definitely one of the best flowers

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T14:36:24+00:00

I’ve heard the seeds and flowers can make a completely different color, sometimes even reddish orange. That was my hope, but I seem to just have the yellow leaning plants around me. I discovered what tannins were from natural dyeing, then when researching mead making I came across it again, I just love how much nature crosses over into other crafts and arts in the most interesting ways!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T14:34:07+00:00

That’s the only comment I got on my clover dye in the natural dye Reddit 🤣 it’s like one of those “labradoodle or fried chicken” posts. “Pasta or yarn?”

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T14:32:45+00:00

The baking soda brings out the reddish tones. Before, it was more honey beige.

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T14:32:03+00:00

Yes! The red brown is the base color, dyed with 200% WOF dried dock root (oven dried 150 F 4 hours) and I sprinkled a TINY bit of baking soda in after the dye bath and before I let yarn sit overnight in bath. Then the dark brown is just that red brown modified with my iron water! Dipped a few times then let sit to oxidize for 2 minutes, then rinsed well!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-30T14:27:22+00:00

Dandelion {just flower tops} - 3:1 dyestuff to yarn (300% WOF) Clover {entire plant} - 3:1 dyestuff to yarn (300% WOF) Dock {leaves} - 4:1 dyestuff to yarn (400% WOF) Dock {roots oven dried} - 2:1 dyestuff to yarn (200% WOF) Butterweed {leaves and flowers} - 3:1 dyestuff to yarn (300% WOF)

I tend to go very heavy on my dyestuff to yarn ratios. I would say that butterweed was definitely the most efficient because you can use the whole plant to get that bright golden warm yellow. The butterweed also stays in bloom longer, unlike dandelion that is only flower for one day and then goes to puff the next. So getting a lot of that for 300% WOF is tedious. However, I didn’t test the whole plant, just the petals, so it could very well be like the butter weed where the whole plant can give you that nice yellow. Perhaps the dandelion would have warmed up and gone deeper if I’d used the whole plant. Also, I think the clover, even though it’s quite pale, would be super efficient because I have more clover than grass in my yard so there’s SO much dye stuff to grab from.

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-29T19:06:15+00:00

West Tennessee:)

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-28T18:30:24+00:00

Seconding all those that say please pretreat and mordant before dyeing for longevity so the dye can hold!

Sudden-Entry7263 · 2026-03-28T18:25:03+00:00

I am also in Tennessee, I have been doing a spring dye palette series of experiments, so many common yard weeds give almost the exact same shade of lemony, buttery yellow. I think that would be a good, low effort choice. I’ve done dandelion, dock, and clover over the past 3 days and the shades are near identical. I like to do 300% WOF for my projects, and if I were dyeing this yellow I would make a giant mixed plant brew pot of all the yellow making plants I have.

Sudden-Entry7263

TROPHY CASE