Originally Posted by ckcowl

we used walnuts to dye with years ago- boiled the nuts until the water was quite dark- then added the fabric- kept it simmering until it was darker than what we wanted (gives you like a 'tea-dyed' look--different shade of brown-
then rinsed in cold water- let dry and heat set- we did not use additives- but we had prepared the fabrics- by pre-washing with detergent- no fabric softeners.
the dyed fabric kept its brown stained hue for years---we did this back in the 70's- still the same--it is a darker- different color than natural muslin-
we also used the water to dye our skin :)=== ready tan---that made us look like we were in great need of a bath! made our skin look --- dirty---and lasted for weeks! my mom was not impressed with our (creativity)