Natural Dyeing with Apple Leaves and Bark
This spring Tommy pruned our apple trees which left us with piles of branches. I spent a day stripping the leaves off the branches and another day running the branches through our chipper. Both the leaves and wood chips were set out to dry in my drying shed. I’m excited to offer these beautiful tannin rich natural dyes in my upcoming fall launch! Of course both apple leaves and wood chips can be used fresh to set up a dye bath if you are trimming your own apple trees or stumble upon a wind fallen branch. The other day I finally got around to setting up an apple leaf dye bath and was so pleased with the color it yielded. The next day I set up a dye bath with the apple wood chips and was pleased again. The colors are very similar but the apple bark will yield a slightly richer shade than the leaves.
Apple leaf dyed hemp fabric on the left and apple bark dyed hemp fabric on the right.
Apple Leaf Natural Dye Recipe
1) Scour: I shared my favorite scouring recipe and method for cellulose fabric in this post. I hope to share a scouring recipe for protein fibers soon.
2) Tannin: Protein fibers do not require a tannin bath so you can skip this step if you’re dyeing fibers such as wool or silk. Both apple leaves and bark are rich in tannin so they can be used to make a tannin bath. I used apple bark but you can use any tannin. I share more details about tannin baths in this post. Set up an apple bark tannin bath by weighing out coarsely ground apple wood chips at 30% WOF. Heat 5 gallons of water to about 160° F then add the wood chips. Turn off the heat and let the wood chips steep for about 30 minutes before adding the fibers. I let the fabric ( 1 yard) soak in the tannin bath for a few hours then gently rinsed it once with cool water. Set the apple bark or leaf tannin bath aside to be used as a dye bath in step 4.
3) Mordant: Mordant the fiber with potassium aluminum sulfate at 12% WOF + soda ash at 2% WOF. This is my favorite mordant recipe and you can refer to this post for all the details. I let the fabric steep in the alum bath for about 4 hours then gently rinsed it with cool water.
4) Dye: For richer shades add more bark or leaves to the reserved tannin bath from step 2. I used 50% WOF in both my apple bark and apple leaf dye baths. For both dye baths bring the bath to a low boil for an hour to extract the dye, then let it cool. For the strongest colors heat the bath again for a second extraction. If you’re dyeing yarn strain the dyestuff before adding the fibers. If you’re dyeing fabric you don’t have to strain the dyestuffs off. Add the fabric and bring the heat up to a low simmer. Hold the heat, stirring often and making sure the fabric remains submerged. If you’re dyeing wool or silk keep the heat below a simmer. For the richest colors let the fabric steep and cool in the dye pot overnight, just be sure it remains completely submerged. You can bring the bath back up to a simmer and steep again to coax deeper shades.
5) Optional iron modification: To shift the colors to deeper shades as shown below, you can set up an iron bath with hot water and 2-4% WOF ferrous sulfate. I explain this process in my book Farm & Folk Quilt Alchemy.
Apple leaf dyed hemp fabric on the left (the folded piece is modified with 3% WOF iron), and apple bark dyed hemp fabric on the right (the folded piece is modified with 3% WOF iron).
I’m working on a series of little house quilt blocks made from my homegrown and locally foraged natural dyes. My first two houses are dyed with apple leaves (left) and apple bark (right). I’ll be posting natural dye recipes for all the natural dyes I’m offering this season so stay tuned for many more to come.
Apple leaf dyed house on the right, apple bark dyed house on the right.
