Activity: Natural Cloth Dyeing with Red Cabbage

Materials

• Red Cabbage
• Pots, 2
• Salt or Vinegar
• Water
• Tongs
• Fabric

Instructions

1) Chop a red cabbage into 2 inch pieces and put the pieces into a large pot to boil. Make sure the cabbage is completely covered in water and simmer for at least one hour on a stove to pull out the dye. 

2) Drain the cabbage water into a pot. Wear rubber gloves to keep your hands from being stained blue. Let the dye cool a bit. If you want to change the color, here is where a lesson in chemistry enters the scene. Red cabbage water contains a molecule called flavin that reacts to acid/alkali and changes the color of your dye. If you want more pink, add an acid like white vinegar. If you want the dye to be more blue, add an alkali like baking soda. If you want different colors, use more than one container for the dye to make a variety. 

3) Put your fabric into the cabbage juice. Add some salt or another type of fixer. Leave the fabric in for as long as you want it to absorb the dye and remember that the color will be lighter after the fabric has dried. Remove the fabric from the dye and rinse it in cold water until the water runs clear, then hang it to dry.