Confetti style table linen
For my daughter’s birthday I naturally dyed an old table cloth with black beans, dried marigolds and madder pieces to create this confetti style look for her birthday table. Bundle dyeing is such an amazing technique and perfect for quick natural dye projects.
What you’ll need:
handful of black beans
1-2 dried marigolds
handful of madder pieces
mordanted table cloth, damp
string
pot with steamer
Watch the video here.
If you want to learn how to prep your fabric for natural dyeing, may I recommend my new ebook “Natural dyeing with food waste” which dives deep into all the solid foundations needed to get started with natural dyes.
Step 1 Get your dye stuff ready
Prepare your dye stuff. You don’t need much, a little goes a long way. I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes less is truly more ;)
I only used 1 dried marigold, about 20-30 black beans and a handful of dried madder pieces.
Step 2 Arrange the dye stuff
Spread out your damp and mordanted table cloth on the floor and start sprinkling the madder pieces, black beans and marigold petals over half of the table cloth. (Make sure your table cloth is facing right side up).
Step 3 Fold & Roll
Fold the other half of the table cloth over the dye stuff so that the plant dyes are sort of “sandwiched” between the fabric layers. Then start rolling up the table cloth from one side into a snake shape. Tightly wrap string around the bundle, so that the dye stuff is firmly secured inside.
Step 4 Steam
Steam your bundle in a pot with a steamer for 30 minutes.
Step 5 Open the bundle
After steaming, immediately remove the string and open your bundle. If you wait too long after steaming the color will sort of bleed into the fabric and you won’t be left with crisp prints.
Remove all the dye stuff with your hands.
Step 6 Rinse & Dry
Rinse the table cloth with eco detergent, such as wool & silk detergent. Hang it table cloth up to dry and that’s it! This table cloth will give the perfect backdrop for any birthday table.
So let’s get ready to celebrate! :)
I can’t wait to get out this table cloth for every birthday now,.. and Karneval and New Years!
