Colour dyeing your fleece

Below are a few natural suggestions to use if you are looking to dye your fleece. Some will require mordants, commonly ALUM (Aluminium Potassium Sulfate). Please experiment or search online or in books for the best ratios before you try to dye the whole fleece in one!

Blackberries (pink – purple)
Blackcurrants (grey – deep purple)
Bracken (yellow)
Dahlia (yellow – bronze)
Damsons (purple)
Dandelion roots (purple)
Dock roots (black)
Dog’s mercury (blue)
Elder leaves (green)
Flag Iris roots (grey – black)
Hops (yellow – brown)
Lady’s Bedstraw roots (red)
Marigold (yellow – orange)
Nettles (yellow – green – grey)
Oak (brown – black)
Onion skins (brown)
Privet (green)
Sloe berries (red – pink – brown – blue)
Tea bags (brown)

Michelle Green sent us these amazing needle-felted deer and cats using Poll Dorset fleece and dyed with teabags and Kemtex
Carla Taylor sent us these equally-amazing needle-felted hare and border terrier using our Poll Dorset fleece. See Carla’s other work by visiting www.themouseholewoolery.co.uk or www.facebook.com/themouseholewoolery
Jay Montague sent us these photographs of a lovely jacket and scarf. Jay said that “This year I wanted a casual cardigan-style jacket and warped up my Saori loom. Using my homespun for the weft I have got a lovely textured feel which I love. I had a go at microwave dyeing the wool and that was a great success which is brilliant as I love the Saori style of weaving. I didn’t like the idea of buttons at the neck so have used a couple of D-rings and a hand-woven Inkle band.”
Jay has also produced these amazing garments using our fleece and an array of dyeing techniques!
April Grayson has made an intricate throw made from Dorset Down fleece we supplied to her at the Dorset County Show. She has washed it in the washing machine on the wool cycle at 30 degrees and it has come out very soft and fluffy without shrinking or felting!
Jacky Calderbank sent us a picture of her peg loom mat in the making and then finished, used to transform a wooden bench. The Poll Dorset fleece was dyed with onion skins, blackberries, turmeric, and nettles.
Ann Sadler sent us this sample of Dorset Down fleece finely spun and knitted