How to Naturally Dye Reuseable Bags
Natural Dyeing with onion skins is a simple and eco-friendly project to learn. For this tutorial, you are going to use onion skins that normally would be gone to waste. Red or yellow onions are both fine and they will give two beautiful shade of colour. Because of the high tannin content in onion skins, you won't need to pre-treat your cotton bags. These natural dyed reusable bags are perfect at the supermarket for your loose fruits and vegetables as well as bread bags or for toys.
Tutorial by @_twome
How to make
1 bowl of red or yellow dry onion skins (4 to 5 large onions),
a pan
a colander
a large bowl
a spoon
Pre-wash your bags and rinse well. Cut the labels inside the bag.
Add the onion skins in your pan and add water to cover the skins.
Bring to boil and simmer for 45minutes (always check if the water is evaporating too
quickly and add more)
Soak the bags in water for about 10/15 minutes.
Wait for the dye to cool and then strain the dyed liquid
Put the liquid back into the pot, add the wet bags and about 1-1.5L of water. The bags
should swim in the liquid.
Simmer the bags with the dye for 30-60 minutes depending on the shade of colour you
want.
At this point, you can drain the liquid and let the bags cool down.
If you like a darker shade, you could keep the bags in the liquid dye overnight.
Then carefully squeeze any liquid excess from the bag and dry over the bath/shower or
outside in the shade (dyed liquid will drip and could possibly mark)
Once dry, iron the bags and they are ready to be used.
Aftercare : Handwash in cold water and dry in shade. When not in use, keep out of direct
light/sun. The colour will fade slightly with time, you can always natural dye it again.
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