This study was to investigate the practicality and functionality of water lily(Nymphaea tetragona) leaves as a natural dye resource while searching for various dyeing methods to utilize them. Effect of dyeing condition including methanol ratio of dyebath, dyeing temperature and time, mordanting method, etc were investigated. Colorants were prepared by extraction in methanol and followed drying process. When composing 30% of methanol in the dyebath, better dyeuptake and uniform dyeing were resulted.
Pre-mordanting method gave better results in terms of dye uptake than post-mordanting method on the wool fabrics. Fe and Ti were effective for increasing the dye uptake on the silk fabrics. Depending on mordant type and mordanting method, the dyed fabrics got various color showing green, khaki, brownish yellow, dark brown, dark gray and so on.
As for color fastness, the silk fabrics dyed with water lily extract showed relatively high rating in light fastness(3~4, 4~5 rating), washing fastness(4~5, 5 rating), and rubbing fastness(4, 4~5 rating). The silk and wool fabrics dyed with water lily leaves extract showed excellent antimicrobial activity over 98% of bacterial reduction rate against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. It was confirmed that water lily leaves can be used as a natural dye resource for dyeing wool and silk fabrics because its colorants showed excellent affinity and antimicrobial functionality as well as good colorfastness.