Before you dye your 100 % cotton or wool garment, (on blends, the dye might not take so well- I advise that you test a scrap piece before you dye the whole garment) you should mordant it so that it will accept the dye better. I also suggest that you wait until the garment is finished to dye it, rather than dying the fabric. This way, if you use cotton thread, the thread dyes to match the fabric exactly. Also, it means less fabric to have to stuff in the pot.

    Onion skin dye results in a wonderful orange-yellow color on unmordanted cotton, but it's not very colorfast. On wool, however, the results are more permanent.

• 1 lb wool (alum mordant)
• 10 oz dried outer onion skin (the cheap kind that come in red plastic mesh bags- not white or red)

    Cover onion skins with water and boil for 15 min. Remove onion skins, and add enough water to make a four gallon dyebath, and drop in mordanted and rinsed wool. Boil wool for 30 min, rinse, and dry.

• 1 lb wool (chrome mordant)
• 10 oz dried outer onion skins

    Cover onion skins with water and boil for 15 min. Remove onion skins, and add enough water to make a four gallon dyebath, and drop in mordanted and rinsed wool. Boil wool for 30 min, rinse, and dry.

• 1 lb unmordanted cotton
• 1 gallon loosely packed onion skins

    Cover onion skins with water and boil for an hour. Strain out the skins, and add enough water to make a 4 gallon dyebath. Drop in the cotton, and boil until fabric is desired color. Rinse in cold water, and dry. This method is not extremely fade proof, but is easily re-dyable.