Marigold Dye Results

Here are the results of the dyeing I did with marigold (Tagetes sp.) flowers:

                                                                    

Top Left: alum mordanted cotton 

Middle Left: alum mordanted linen

Bottom Left: alum mordanted cotton in 2nd use of dyebath

Top Right: copper mordanted cotton

Bottom Right: alum mordanted cotton dyed with marigold leaves

(the colors are greener and brighter than they appear here on my computer monitor. the photo was taken under fluorescent lights. I will take another photo in natural light then swap it if it turns out better.)

I also did some eco-bundles with fresh marigold flowers and leaves. These are the results:

Marigold flowers

Marigold leaves

Marigold Dye

Today I dyed cotton fabric with marigold (Tagetes patula varieties). 

 I used flower heads that I gathered and froze last summer and fall as well as a few fresh flowers gathered today. I also made a dye bath with the frozen leaves and stems.

I simmered both for a half hour, let it sit for an hour, then added the fabric.

In the marigold flowers bath are copper-mordanted cotton on the left and alum-mordanted cotton on the right. A better look at the different results from the mordants:

 

with copper mordant

with alum mordant

The marigold leaves yielded a soft green which is difficult to see in this photo. This is on copper-mordanted fabric. I neglected to take a photo of the alum-mordanted.

These are the color results after immediately immersing the fabric in the dye baths. I left them to soak in the baths for a few days to hopefully produce a more saturated color.