Vegetable dyes
Should one be interested in vegetable dyes much information can be obtained at the public libraries. Dr. Washington Matthews speaks of Indian dyes in his article on the Navajo weavers mentioned in this book. "How to Make and How to Mend" also contains some good suggestions about dyes.
Mrs. Candace Wheeler's pamphlet
In her little pamphlet, Home Industries and Domestic Weavings, published by the Associated Artists, 115 East 23d Street, New York City, Mrs. Candace Wheeler has an interesting chapter on "Rag-Carpet Weaving." Her suggestions for dyeing rags apply equally to yarns and to other materials which may be used on hand looms for children. Through her kind permission I am allowed to quote the following suggestions:
Uses of the indigo tub
"In the early days of this present century a dye tub was as much a necessity in every house as a spinning-wheel, and the reëstablishment of it in houses where weaving is practiced is almost a necessity; in fact, it would be of far greater use at present than in the days when it was only used to dye the wool needed for family knitting and weaving. All shades of blue, from sky-blue to blue-black, can be dyed in the indigo tub; and it has the merit of being a cheap as well as an almost perfectly fast dye. It could be used for dyeing warps as well as fillings, and I have before spoken of the difficulty, indeed almost impossibility, of procuring indigo-dyed carpet yarn.
Blue universally used
Green
"Blue is, perhaps, more universally useful than any other color in rag-rug making, since it is safe for both cotton and wool, and covers a range from the white rug with blue warp, the blue rug with white warp, through all varieties of shade to the dark blue, or clouded blue and green rug, also, upon white warp. It can also be used in connection with yellow or orange, or with copperas or walnut dye, in different shades of green; and, in short, unless one has exceptional advantages in buying rags from woolen mills, I can hardly imagine a profitable industry of rag-weaving established in any farmhouse without the existence of an indigo dyeing tub.
Red