How to use your indigo dye kit
This video is designed for the Indigo Turkish Towel kit specifically, but they’ll be valuable for using the Basic Shibori kit to dye whatever fabric you’d like as well.
Before you start…
Each kit dyes up to 15 yards of fabric so grab enough other pieces to make the most of your vat. Pick natural materials that are undyed like cotton, hemp or bamboo. Flour sack towels, pillowcases, sheets, yardage and old shirts are all fair game. Use one of these pieces to practice on before you make your towel if you feel nervous.
Pre-wash everything in a mild detergent, vinegar or degreasing liquid dish soap (like Dawn) to get rid of residues.
Read through your instructions included in the kit thoroughly before doing your project. If you lost it, contact us and we'll email you a PDF version.
The video shows the ideal way to create your vat and do your project for best results but indigo dyeing can be pretty forgiving. If you don’t have a bucket, use a trash can. If you don’t have little containers to pre-dissolve the powders, you’ll probably be okay just putting them directly into the vat. If you don’t remove the flower before dyeing, no big deal – you might just have some darker indigo specks on your project and some people actually like that. We advise you follow our directions but we also understand you might need to accommodate your home set up.
These designs are meant to be starting points for you to explore your own creative perspective. You can follow them exactly, try variations or try something different. It’s completely up to you and the result will be completely you. Have fun with it.
When you're done dyeing...
Let your piece dry for at least 24 hours.
Then wash with the other shibori projects you made or by itself in your washer on cold with a mild detergent or degreasing liquid dish soap (like Dawn).
Dry like normal and it’s ready to use.