The plant dye workshop

Try your
hand at dyeing your own fabric belt or headband with plant dyes. In the
Middle Ages, dyes derived from plants were an important part of textile
manufacture, as synthetic dyes had not yet been invented. The dyes were
extracted from different plant parts, such as leaves, roots, fruits, flowers
and bark. The choice of the plant depended on the desired colour and what was
available – either in the surrounding nature or using imported dyes at
markets in the big cities. Not many well-preserved items of clothing from the
Middle Ages remain, but by examining both preserved clothes, pieces of cloth,
paintings and descriptions of fashion in contemporary texts, we can get an
idea of how people dressed back then.