How to Dye Wool Yarn Earthy Colors with Sumac Berries

Materials & tools you'll need

Step 1 — Scour the wool

Tie your wool into skeins to prevent tangling, then add them to a pot of water with a little dish soap. Place the pot on medium heat and let it simmer for about half an hour. This removes any oils or residue from the wool so it will take the sumac dye evenly later on.

Step 2 — Simmer the sumac berries to extract the dye

In a separate large pot, cover fresh sumac berries with water. Bring the mixture up to a simmer on high heat, then reduce to low-medium to maintain a gentle simmer with the lid on. After about half an hour, the water will develop a noticeable orangey tint — a sign that color is being extracted from the berries. Once you see that shift, reduce the heat to medium and keep the lid on while you move to the next step.

Step 3 — Prepare and apply the mordant

In a large bowl, dissolve about one tablespoon of alum and one teaspoon of cream of tartar in water. Rinse your scoured wool, then submerge it in the mordant solution, keeping it at the lowest simmer possible for roughly an hour. This step helps the sumac dye bond more securely to the fiber for a longer-lasting result.

Step 4 — Strain the dye bath

Once you're satisfied with the color extraction from the sumac berries, strain out the berry solids from the dye bath so they don't cling to the wool during dyeing. Rinse the mordanted yarn once more before adding it to the strained dye bath.

Step 5 — Dye the wool

Add the mordanted, rinsed wool to the strained sumac dye bath and let it sit for about an hour, checking periodically for color payoff. Test against your white fabric scrap if you want a quick visual reference for how the color is developing. Continue until you're happy with the depth of color on both skeins.

Step 6 — Modify the color with iron (optional)

If you'd like a deeper, more saddened earthy tone, add a small amount of iron to the dye bath as a modifier partway through dyeing. This shifts the warm sumac color toward a richer, more muted shade — a simple way to get a second colorway from the same batch of dye.

Step 7 — Rinse, dry, and finish

Once satisfied with the color, wash out the yarn and hang it up to dry. After it's fully dry, untie the skeins and compare how the sport weight and regal weight wool took the dye differently — a great way to see firsthand how yarn thickness and ply influence the final earthy colorway.

Frequently asked questions

Why use two different wool weights for this dye project?
Dyeing a sport weight and a regal weight skein side by side in the same dye bath lets you see how yarn thickness and ply affect the final color payoff. Thinner yarn tends to absorb dye more intensely, while thicker yarn often shows a slightly softer, more muted shade from the same bath.

Do you need to mordant wool before dyeing with sumac berries?
Mordanting with alum and cream of tartar isn't strictly required, but it helps the sumac dye bond more securely to the wool fibers, giving you a more colorfast result that holds up better to washing over time.

How do you know when the sumac dye bath is ready to use?
After simmering the sumac berries for about half an hour, the water should take on a noticeable orangey tint. That color shift is your sign that enough dye has been extracted from the berries to move on to mordanting and dyeing the wool.

How can you modify the color of sumac dyed yarn?
Adding iron to the dye bath as a modifier saddens the color, pulling the warm earthy tones from the sumac toward a deeper, richer shade. It's an easy way to get a second colorway variation from the same batch of dye.

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