Topping of naturally dyed wool fabrics with different natural dye sources

Abstract Wool fabrics can be dyed with synthetic dyes and even with natural dyes. To present a different aspect to the coloration of wool, the current study was focused on a topping process (ie, the dyeing of wool that was already dyed) with different natural dye sources. For this purpose, the fabrics that were already dyed with a natural dye source were once again dyed with two different natural dyes. In bottom dyeing (bottoming), fabrics were dyed with hops ( Humulus lupulus L.) in the presence of different mordanting agents. Then the dyed, washed and dried samples were once again dyed (topping) with two different natural dye sources. For topping, powdered madder and acorn were tested in direct dyeing of wool samples. Finally, the colour changes were analysed with the use of a spectrophotometer. The study demonstrates that such a process (ie, bottoming with hops in the presence of different mordanting agents and then topping with madder or acorn) can be a way of obtaining different shades and colours with sufficient/good fastness values by natural dyeing.