Hi Creative Mamas! Welcome to another exciting post about natural dyeing and the amazing world of natural dye plants!
In this post I want to show you how you can create natural golden yellow dye using goldenrod flowers.
We will be using natural fibers such as silk and wool which are protein fibers (animal fibers), but you can also use plant-based fibers such as linen fabric and cotton fabric to create different shades of yellows.
The good thing about natural dyeing with goldenrod flowers is that you can use the entire plant. I planted 4 little goldenrods in my dye garden a year ago and this summer I had a full bloom of yellow flowers!
The photo below was taken by my daughter one day that I was pruning the dye garden in an attempt to control the overgrown coreopsis and goldenrods after a very rainy January in Auckland, New Zealand.
I started by dyeing with the fresh flowers and a few leaves and I got bright golden yellow.
Then I did a little test using fresh leaves only and I got a lime yellow color, equally beautiful but a different shade of yellow.
So the third time I used the leaves and flowers, which were freshly cut, as well as dried leaves from a week prior and I got very satisfying results!
The photo below shows all my samples. The lighter silk in the middle was dyed using only the leaves. As you can see it gave the lightest result but I learnt that there is a lot of color to be has from those humble scratchy leaves 
Let’s have a look at the steps you need to take to achieve these beautiful natural yellow colors!
The first thing you need to ensure is that you are working with 100% natural fibers. For this tutorial I am using wool yarn and silk fabrics.
You will need to scour and mordant the fibers properly. Read the Ultimate Guide to Natural Dyeing so that you are reminded of how to clean and mordant the fibers before the dye process.
You can also download the FREE List of the best plant dyes to use in natural dyeing by completing the form below!
Making yellow dye solution
In order to make the dye bath we need to extract the dye from the plant.
Fill a stainless steel dye pot with enough water to cover the plant material. Place on the stove and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, you can remove the pot from the stove. Let it cool naturally.
Strain the dye liquid and place inside a stainless steel pot (dye pot).
Immerse the fiber inside the dye liquid. In this case I am dyeing wool yarn and silk inside the same pot.
Make sure the fiber has plenty of room to move freely to avoid uneven dyeing.
Bring dye pot to a simmer and leave it simmering for 1 hour. Remove from heat source and rinse.
Make sure that the water is running clear before you leave the fiber to dry.
The photo below shows the wool fiber just after it was rinsed.
This photo shows the same wool yarn a few hours later after it was completely dry. I left it to dry in a shady spot.
As you can see it dyed a beautiful yellow color using the flowerheads as well as the leaves.
If you are interested in diving deeper into the work of natural dyeing you will love to learn how to dye your own fabric using beautiful flowers such as marigolds and other natural plant dyes using different mordants and modifiers such as ferrous sulfate and lemon juice.
Save this tutorial to your Pinterest board!
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