To celebrate Michealmass up here in the North East Kingdom we decide to use marigolds to dye silks and make them into capes. For the past month or so we have been collecting marigolds. Cliona loves to help take the flowers apart and we end up with a big basket of drying petals. Over the course of several days I will shake them a bit to make sure they are drying evenly. We did this several times until we have a quart jar full of dried petals.
We invited some friends to join us in the festivities. The night before I soaked most of the petals in a large pot of water. In the morning about half an hour before our friends arrived I began to heat up the pot of marigold petals. I also filled another pot with water and started heating it up. When our friends arrived I invited each child to add a few more dried petals to the pot. We added about 6 tablespoons of alum to the pot of water then we added our silks. We let the silks simmer in the alum water for about half an hour to act as a mordant to hold the dye in the silk. We also let the marigold water simmer for while the children played outside.
While we waited for the dye bath to cool, we have a short circle followed by a snack. Then we squeezed the dye out of the petals and strained the dye bath. We removed the silks from the mordant bath. Then we separated the dye into two large bowls so we could have two children working at a time.
We hung them to dry on the low branches of the apple tree. Then we went for a walk to see our neighbors pond. We closed the morning with a lovely Michealmass story about shooting stars.
I sewed casing a little ways down the cape so that it would be shorted for my younger one and also create a sort of shoulder lapel. I put in a piece of elastic just big enough to go over his head. After I sewed the elastic together, I slid the seam into the casing. This style works well for both my kids because they can put it on independently. My daughter often fusses with things being too tight or loose, so this also works well for her because it is always the same!
I sent some extra dye home with friends to experiment with.