Yellow is a dye that doesn’t last very well. Just wanted to show you how quickly it fades – and how to save it again.
Thomas and Sixten in February 2010, Stockholm. Sixten is 40 hours old in this photo. I guess he is the youngest person ever to be at a medieval banquette.
Thomas and Sixten in September 2010, Söderköping.
May 2011, Morimondo. The jacket is made of hand-woven fustian, dyed with indigo, the hat is made of wool and dyed with madder.
August 2012, Visby. Have a look at my veil. It’s an apron. I left my veil at home and had to be creative. My pilgrim bag is dyed with indigo. Unfortunately it was stolen in Minden, Germany – if you should happen to find it, give me a call! I miss it. My pink purse is dyed with coschenille. The purse and my dress are hand-woven.
May 2013, Ekenäs. Sixten’s red kyrtil is dyed with madder.
As you can see, the hood has faded more for every year. In May I thought it was a shameful hood for a knight to wear, and decided to re-dye it. Said and done.
I boiled onion skins in a big pot, approximately two whole plastic bags of the type you use for fruit at the supermarket. I usually clean out the onion crate at the supermarket to get a decent amount of skins, and the staff are usually very happy to let me do so.
I filled a baby bath tub with the juice, skins removed. Then I placed the wet hood in the bath. I left it there to soak for about two hours.
This is the result. June 2013, Minden.
I think it was a easy way to achieve a good color. And onion is a very gentle type of dye for the fabric.
Do – redo!
/ Maria
PS. I’d like to thank all friends who lent me their pictures for use in this blog post. ❤