Building an autumn colour palette with natural and low-impact dyes
Every Cedar Butterfly collection starts with a colour question rather than a trend board. For autumn 2026, the question was: what colours feel right for October in Somerset? The answer, after a lot of test swatches and one genuinely difficult dye process, was ochre, deep sage, and rust.
Ochre: the straightforward one
Ochre is one of the more reliable colours to achieve with low-impact fibre-reactive dyes. The base is a warm golden yellow, shifted slightly orange with a small addition of a red reactive dye. Joseph has been mixing this particular ochre since 2022 and it takes about one session to get right.
The linen for the overshirts was dyed in a single bath to keep the colour consistent across the run. Pre-mordanted with alum, dyed at 60 degrees, rinsed in cold water with a small amount of white vinegar to set the pH. The result is a warm, slightly dusty yellow that reads differently in morning and afternoon light, which Joseph considers a success.
Sage: two sessions, one adjustment
Sage is trickier because it sits at the intersection of green and grey, and the balance shifts depending on the fabric. On linen, green dyes tend to pull slightly warm; on cotton, they pull slightly cool. The sage for the totes and headbands is a cotton-linen blend, which meant Joseph had to adjust the iron modifier ratio between the first and second dye session to keep the colour consistent.
The result is a muted, slightly blue-green that works well with the ochre and does not fight the rust. It is the kind of colour that is hard to name precisely, which Joseph finds satisfying.
Rust: four attempts and what went wrong
The rust was the problem. Madder root extract gives a reliable red-orange on alum-mordanted linen, but Joseph wanted something deeper and more complex. Closer to dried terracotta than fresh orange. The first three batches pulled too bright, too flat, or shifted green under artificial light (a known issue with iron-modified madder).
Batch four used a combination of madder and a small amount of low-impact fibre-reactive dye to anchor the colour and improve wash-fastness. The iron modifier was reduced to about a third of the batch-three quantity. The result is warm, slightly uneven across the fabric in a way that looks intentional, and completely stable across wash testing. There are 14 pairs of trousers in this colourway and Joseph is not repeating it this season.
The autumn 2026 collection is live in the shop now. If you want to know the specific dye recipe for a piece you have bought, email hello@cedar-butterfly.com and Joseph will dig out his notes.