Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Dyeing doilies-a tutorial

  After a few big, complicated tutorials, I thought it was time for something a little less overwhelming for those less enthusiastic than me. Not everyone wants to combine multiple crafts in the same project, or spend hours completing it, so here’s some straight dyeing.

P9155720

 I dyed these table runner sized doilies for my kids recently-we put a white bookshelf in each of their bedrooms and they looked a little plain. These draped over the top and sides brighten it up a bit, and give a more stable base for the knick-knacks they display on the top of the shelf. I voted for multi-coloured, but they wanted solids.

  The runners were bought at op-shops for a few dollars each. Generally, all old doilies you’ll find are cotton, but they’re never tagged so it may be a gamble if you can’t tell by feel. I used what I call the dry dyeing method, which I find to be a quicker, easier way to obtain solid colours that the traditional vat dyeing way-and it uses a lot less dye, salt and soda ash to achieve the same or brighter results.

  I soaked them in soda ash solution, then dried them completely. I find drying them leads to stronger, more uniform colours. When dry I mixed up 1.5 cups of warm water with 2 tsps of Procion dye in each colour, and poured each into its own container. I dropped the doilies in, mixed them around with a knitting needle until they were completely coloured, then lidded the containers. I left them for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.

P8225471
 
Then I rinsed them out thoroughly, and handwashed them with plenty of laundry powder. I don’t think doilies would hold up very well to a machine wash. After air-drying in the shade, they were ready to go.

  Been inspired to try this? Please leave your link in the comments! Like what you see? Take a look at my Etsy shop to see what I have in stock-I sell dye packs that will enable you to recreate this project!

No comments:

ShareThis

Blog Widget by LinkWithin