How to Dye with Madder Root Extract

Madder root has been used to dye goods for centuries but isn’t always the most accessible so I will show you how to use madder root extract to dye!

Ever since I started naturally dyeing goods people mention using madder root as a way they have dyed their easter eggs! They now make madder root extract as some sort of powder to add to shakes and smoothies. I decided I’d see what color I could get out of it and I was pretty happy with it! If you use a little amount (1/4 a cup to 500 grams of goods) you will get a more orange color. But the more dye you use, the more of a coral color you will get!

See this post here for all of my must haves for when I’m dyeing.

What I used to dye with madder root extract

• Madder Root Extract
• White Cotton material (I used these pillow cases!)
• Pot
• Water

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Always make sure your material is prewashed before beginning! If you want to do an alum bath you can (see all the details here). It will give you a more vibrant color. These specific ones were not soaked in an alum bath!

Boil enough water that your material can flow freely. Once the water is boiling, scoop some into a cup and stir in your madder root extract. I did about 1 tablespoon here!

Use a spoon or something to stir the madder root extract and make sure it is dissolved. If you can’t get it fully dissolved, pour in the part that is dissolved and scoop up so more water then keep stirring. I do this because it’s much easier to make sure the extract is dissolved in a small cup than trying to stir a full pot of boiling water.

Madder root extract is a little frothy so is a bit more messy than other extracts I’ve used! I say this so you aren’t concerned thinking it didn’t fully dissolve; it probably did!

Once it’s fully dissolved put in your dyed goods and keep the water simmering for about 40 minutes then turn off the heat.

Let the fabric sit in the water until the water cools and rinse it well with cold water.

Put it in a wash cycle with cold water and you are all done! This was a really surprising color to me. Everyone told me madder would get me red and this was definitely more orange than anything I’ve ever done before!

I also put a couple in an iron bath! You can see the subtle difference in color between the two.