Sunday, July 7, 2013

Dyeing Thread

I've been experimenting with natural dyes on thread.
I have the thread that I purchased from Hank and Spool and a thread that a friend of mine gave me.
I can't remember what type of thread my buddy said it was but I believe that it has wool in it from the looks of it and how it behaves in dye.

I followed (albeit loosely) the instructions in the book "Harvesting Color" by Rebecca Burgess.

Here's my results.
This is a coreopsis from my garden. I can't remember the exact type but the small blooms have dark red centers with lighter red along the outside of the petals.




The darker thread is the silk/wool blend form Christine's shop.
I really love this thread. It turned a chartreuse color, a deep and beautiful mix of green, gold and yellow.

The other thread is more of a bright chartreuse color, leaning towards a yellow but beautiful all the same.

These have dried for a day or so and have been rinsed in cool water. I haven't used any type of soap on them but will do that later.
Maybe Synthrapol?

I love the colors but what I love more than that is that I did it!
I mean that the flowers came from my garden, the color from what I did with them...it's a natural, non toxic dye material.

My next experiment was yellow onion skin.
I have been saving skins, freezing them until I had the time or inclination to use them.
Again, I followed the instructions in the "Natural Dyeing" book.
I did soak some of my thread in alum. If you see a red thread tied onto a bit of thread, that was my reminder that I pre soaked it in alum.
I really couldn't tell that much difference in the thread that was soaked versus the non soaked thread...







The thread from my friend did not accept the color as much - not nearly as much as the silk blend.
It is still a very nice light tan/beige color.
It will work beautifully on natural dyed fabric.

I am working on another dye pot but will post about it later. It's not ready quite yet.

I also have a few bundles to open up soon! I have managed to wait more than one or two days to open them...aren't you proud of me?

I hope that everyone is having a peaceful time - whatever the weather is in your part of the world.
It's rainy, rainy, rainy here.
We are about 18 inches above our YEARLY rain amount. Hard to believe that we aren't in a summer drought yet.
I don't mind the rainy, cloudy weather for the most part. I do love the sunshine but I also love the moodiness of cloudy days.
It makes it easier to sit and read or draw.

4 comments:

Terriea Kwong said...

I do love the color of the top. Is it what we call "mustard" color? I have never succeed in Eco dye with flowers. Yours is so pretty.

Christine said...

OHHH these colors are rich. I am happy to see the results. thank you for mentioning my shop. I hope to see some stitching from you as well!

Vicki W said...

These colors are beautiful! I haven't done any natural dyeing beyond tea dyeing so it's all a mystery to me.

Joanne Huffman said...

Very nice colors. I look forward to seeing what you do with them.