Plant Dyes: Dried Scabious 'Black Knight" Flowers

Scabious Black Knight is a great dye plant which responds to changing pH - greens and blues, through purples and pinks.  The dye is only moderately colour fast - unless modified with iron - so I would not recommend for anything that is going to be exposed to lots of sunshine.

These were grown in my dye garden, dried out and packed into Kraft string and washer envelopes.

When using dried dye materials you need far less then you do with fresh leaves. Depending on the depth of colour you want, use from 5-10% the weight of fibres. To prepare the plant material for dyeing with put it in your dye pot and pour boiling water over it, exactly as if you were making tea, then let it steep for at least six hours, overnight is even better. Then proceed as though you had fresh material.