Natural Red Dye for Fabric and Yarn

Which materials will produce red dyes? Have a look at this list of red dye plants (and one insect). You may be surprised that there are not more of them

Last week, I shared with you a long list of dyeplants that create a yellow color. Some of these natural dyes are a deep ochre yellow while others lean more toward a lighter, lemon yellow.

As it turns out, there are a lot of materials that you can use to make a natural yellow dye, including Juniper berries and Osage Orange tree bark.

But there are not nearly as many to make red, for some reason. However, the materials vary widely from flowers (Hollyhock) to bark (Pear and Cherry) to insects (Cochineal).

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As I specified in the article about yellow dyeplants, there are some varying factors which determine the color you can extract including:

• Stage of life of the plant
• Time of year
• Preceding weather conditions
• pH of the water used
• Mordant used, if any
• Modifiers used, if any
• Material of the dyepot

Natural dye materials that produce red:

Note: I purposely did not include materials that produce fugitive (non-fast) dyes such as beets and red cabbage

• Madder roots (Rubia tinctorum)
• Brazilwood heartwood (Caesalpinia)
• Hollyhock, dark colored flowers (Alcea rosea)
• Birch bark (Betula) with added Iron
• Eucalyptus

• Pear bark (Pyrus communis)
• Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum)
• Saint John’s Wort flowers (Hypericum perforatum)
• Cherry bark
• Sanderswood heartwood (Pterocarpus santalinus)
• Safflower flowers (Carthamus tinctorius)
• Cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus)
• Indian Paint Fungus (Echinodontium tinctorium)

In general, natural plant dyes adhere much better to protein fibers (wool, silk) than plant fibers (cotton, linen). While you may get a nice, deep red color on a wool blanket, that color might be washed out or altered on a cotton t-shirt.

I bring this up to let you know that even though the plants (and insect) above do produce a red dye, you need to do your homework. Before you purchase expensive dye materials, make sure that those will work on your particular choice of fiber.

As you can see, there are not nearly as many sources to make red dye and yellow. And, just because a flower happens to be red, does not mean it will produce a red color or even any color at all.

Make sure to bookmark this page as I will be adding to my list as I find more red dye plants.

Also, feel free to reach out to me with any relevant info. I’m always happy to learn more!
Enjoy,
Annette

This site is also one of my favorites for information on natural dyeing.

Natural Red Dye for Fabric and Yarn