Coastal Inspired Dinner Party table settings with indigo napkins and seagrass chargers and napkin rings on a white plate

DIY

How to DIY Indigo Napkins

Looking for a fun summertime DIY? We highly suggest dyeing some indigo! Such a nice, outdoor activity to do outside in the sunshine and you get new napkins, dishtowels, you name it! Come with us as we take you through our process to create fun, sea-inspired napkins for your next Summer dinner party.

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THE SUPPLIES:

Indigo Dye Kit (we highly recommend this kit as it comes with most of the supplies)
White Towels
Tarp
Buckets with cover
Long Stick for Stirring

To get started on your project you’ll want to set up your space properly. We reccomend setting a tarp down to ensure that you won’t get indigo all over your grass or surface you are dyeing on. Next, you’ll want to get your bucket ready with 4 gallons of warm water. You’ll then want to unpack your Indigo Kit – this one includes packets you’ll need for the dye, gloves, rubber bands, two blocks and instructions (you’ll want to follow these, we’ve summarized below, but nothing beats the manufacturer’s own instructions!).

Next, put your gloves on and place the packets for the dye (dye, soda ash and reducing agent) into the water. You’ll then stir the mixture together, first in one direction and then reversed to make sure you mix everything together properly – this is detailed in your instructions in the package. Then cover the mixture and let it sit while you create your designs on your towels.

Indigo Pattern for DIY Indigo dyed napkins or dish towels - showing the finished product and the sample of how to tie the pattern on a white towel — Indigo Pattern for DIY Indigo dyed napkins or dish towels

You can take your gloves off while you make your different patterns in your towels. Your kit directions have great suggestions for different patterns. A few of our favorites include… the classic tie dye, accordion fold and rubber banded, you can have some fun with the blocks, and we also really like how the little circles turn out!

You’ll then want to put the gloves back on to dip your towels into the dye, be sure to get the dye into the crevices of your fabric where you want it! You’ll then take them out and let them sit approx 20 mins to set. You can then either dip again for a darker indigo hue, or proceed to the next step…

Rinse them! Once they have sat to set you will rinse the pieces in water (we use a second bucket for this) and start unwrapping! It is so fun to see how the patterns turn out!! We usually surprise ourselves with how cool they look. Let them dry out in the sun. Once dry, we ran ours through the washer and dryer to ensure they wouldn’t run onto any other laundry in the future. Then start enjoying!

Indigo dyed napkins DIY hanging on a drying rack in various patterns

Indigo dyed napkins diy drying in various designs

We hope you enjoy your Indigo project and love hosting dinner parties featuring them! These also make great gifts as dish towels etc! To see our DIY Indigo Napkins in action, take a look at our July at the Beach House post!