To get Brown, what colours are needed to dye fabrics?

Question

Mixing paint is totally different from mixing colour dyes to dye clothing.

Which combination would I need to make a chocolate brown dye?

Brown is the only colour that wasn't available for my favorite cut of t-shirt, unfortunately the pattern was discontinued & no longer available.

However, I suspected that this may be case, so I ordered a few extra in plain white to colour dye later.

Answer 1

You can buy brown dyes, it's far more reliable and the colours are quite rich. You can also make brown dye from the fleshy husks that cover walnuts on the tree.  The husks need to be first oxidized: pound the hulls with a hammer, peel off the husk from the nut and let the pulp sit in a bucket over night.  Then add plenty of hot water, let the colour leech out, strain the husks out and voilà!  Brown dye  However, if you have yellow and purple you can get a raw umber-ish brown.  Use three parts yellow and one part purple and you should get a very odd brown. If it's turns purple, add a bit more yellow.  When I try mixing red and green I tend to get muddy-mud colour. Use a clear purple, not a fuchsia purple.

Answer 2

Go buy a bottle of Rit Dye in brown ;)))

Answer 3

The three primary colors (red, yellow & blue) will make brown.

Complimentary colors (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel) red & green; yellow & purple; orange & blue, will also make brown.

Experiment with different combinations on pieces of the fabric you're going to use until you get the combination you are happy with as you may have to use different amounts of each color.