Dyeing Cotton Yarn

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Spring has sprung here in Wisconsin, and then it went into hiding for a while. But it's mostly back and we're all jazzed about it! See below for how jazzed we are. This is Kaiser's happy face.

Spring has me thinking springy thoughts, and the yarn dyers I follow are thinking the same. I follow one wonderful company that always produces something gorgeous, but the yarns they sell all have animal fiber. I'd like to make an item for someone who can't wear wool, so I decided to attempt a recreation on cotton yarn.

This called for more than my previous adventures into dyeing with food color, which I still recommend if you don't want to buy pots and pans for dyeing. Food color is food safe! Rit dye, on the other hand, is not. But it does wonders for plant fibers. Just make sure you have some gloves and materials you can dedicate to dyeing.

I started out with an undyed cotton from Wet Belly Fibers. This stuff is delightfully soft, and didn't feel too dry on my hands. It's 350yd, 100g of creamy lovely yarn per skein. 


The colors I tried to replicate were hyacinth purple and a gentle brown-gold. Excitingly, Rit has a purple called 'Hyacinth' that was perfect! I made the gold using Rit's formula called Freesia, which uses the colors 'Golden Yellow', 'Tan', and 'Sunshine Orange'. I mixed the colors up and diluted them with water in squeeze bottles, and dyed three skeins: one purple, one gold, and one variegated. The squeeze bottles weren't quite as exact as I had hoped for, but I got the hang of it by the multi-colored skein. I gave them a quick soak in Rit's color fixative, gently washed them, and hung them to dry.


After drying, I love them. I feel like a pro, even though I'm definitely not. This color combination is stunning, and I can't wait to see how they work up. The whole week since I did this, I've been scheming and researching to find the perfect pattern for them. Wish me luck!

My inspiration from Expression Fiber Arts:



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