Last night I wanted to see if the orange trumpet flowers from my trumpet vine would produce orange dye. They were all over the deck and back yard, so I took my basket out and filled it up. 
put them all in a pot with about 3 quarts of water. I added some alum -about four Tablespoons then a piece of sateen cotton about a half a yard. Boiled and boiled.
Nothing happened.
Inspired by my friend Cathy who wrote to me that she dyes with spices, I added 1 Tablespoon of ground cloves and 1 heaping Tablespoon of turmeric. Boiled for one hour- Voila!
Thank you Cathy!!!
i dye every day 