Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Ice Dyed Silk Scarf with Kool Aid

I tried out ice dyeing with fiber-reactive Procion dyes at a workshop recently. It was tons of fun, so I wanted to try it with Kool Aid! I waited for a hot day, broke out the drink mixes, and tried it out. Here's how to do it for yourself.



Materials:

  • An undyed silk scarf. You can buy these at Dharma Trading Company or Thai Silks. I used an 8" x 54" chiffon silk scarf from Dharma. 
    • Note: This will ONLY work on certain fibers. It will work on silk and wool, but it will NOT work on cotton!
  • Packets of unsweetened Kool Aid mix in one or more colors/flavors. I used a total of 9 packets: 4 cherry, 3 black cherry, and 2 grape. 
    • Tip: Look at the picture of the glass to determine the color of the mix, not the color of the packet. Certain packets are a different color than the mix. For example, the Tropical Punch flavor has a red mix, but the packet is blue.
  • A dish or bowl for dyeing. If you don't have a sunny day, or if you're impatient, you might decide to speed up the process in the microwave later. Because of that, you might want to choose a microwave-safe dish that is small enough to fit in your microwave.
  • Another bowl, dish, or bucket for soaking your scarf
  • Rubber gloves
  • A dust mask. This is important so you don't inhale the floating dust from the mix. If you can't get one of these, you should at least hold a damp paper towel over your nose and mouth while dyeing.
  • SynthrapolProfessional Textile Detergent, or dish soap. This is to wash off any residue on the silk from the silk worms, scarf production, or from your hands. I used dish soap.
  • White vinegar. This helps the dye bind to the silk. It isn't absolutely essential because the Kool Aid contains citric acid, but it will let you know that the dye will definitely stay in your scarf.
  • Plastic wrap. This keeps the heat in your dish while dyeing and keeps anything outside from blowing into your dye and disrupting it.
  • And of course, ICE! I have an ice maker, but if you are making ice with trays, make more ice than you think you will need just in case. Or you could buy a bag of ice. This will be more than you need for one scarf, but it is a good option if you are making multiple scarves.
Here is (most of) your materials. Once you have everything, you're ready to go!

Fill your bowl with some warm water, place your scarf in the bowl, and use a little dish soap (or Synthrapol or Professional Textile Detergent) to wash it.

Rinse your scarf well. Then, add some more water and your scarf to your bowl. Add a little vinegar (How much is up to you. I probably added between a half a cup and a cup, but I didn't measure.). Swish your scarf around in the mixture and then let it soak for about a half hour. Wait impatiently.

Dump out the water/vinegar and squeeze out most of the water. Now place the scarf in your dish. You can arrange the scarf in any way you want. I zig-zagged my scarf.

Evenly distribute ice in the dish. Make sure that all parts of the scarf are covered or the dye will not reach that spot.

Sprinkle the different colored mixes around the ice. Make sure to use your gloves and dust mask for this step! Cover the all of the ice. You can overlap colors somewhat, but if you put two colors on top of each other they will mix. You may want that to happen! The ice causes different sections of dye to hit the scarf at different times, so the results are truly unpredictable. That's the fun of this dyeing process! Here are some progress pictures.



Here's what mine looked like after I was done.

Now wrap your dish up in plastic wrap. I crossed it over the top so it was completely covered.


Find a sunny spot to put your dish outside. Check on it every once in a while to make sure it's still in the sun. After two hours I went outside and found out that it was in the shade! If you do move it, be careful so the dye doesn't slosh out.

Wait. Take some time to appreciate nature.

After several hours, it's time to see if it worked! I put my dish outside at 11am, and around 5:30pm I decided to bring it in. Some clouds and a storm were moving in, so I lost my solar fuel for the dyeing process. You want to keep it outside for at least 4-5 hours. This is what my dish looked like when I went outside to get it. You can see lots of condensation inside the plastic wrap.

Unwrap the dish and pour out the excess dye.

Transfer your scarf to the sink. It may look like it doesn't have much color variation, but the pattern will emerge as you rinse out the excess dye.

Rinse your scarf with cool water. I put my bowl in the sink so I could swish the scarf in the water. Keep rinsing until the water is almost clear. This might take a while.

Use your dish soap (or Synthrapol or Professional Textile Detergent) to wash the scarf. Rinse and repeat until the water runs clear. This might take a while, too.

Hang up your scarf somewhere to dry. I placed my bowl underneath it to catch the drips. A bit of dye dripped out of the drying scarf, but don't worry too much about it. This doesn't take long!

Check your scarf for dryness occasionally. When it is almost dry, iron on the silk setting. This will help to set the dye. To be on the safe side, hand wash it separately from other items if it needs to be washed.

And ta-da! You're done! Wear it with pride, because you did it!



This was a lot of fun, even though you have to wait hours to see the results. This would be a great activity to do with friends or with older children. Make them for yourself or for gifts, compare your results with your friends', and most importantly, have FUN!

Here are some of the blogs where I found inspiration. Their tutorials are for dyeing yarn, and you freeze the Kool Aid into ice.
Hopefully, I will be able to make a microwave-only tutorial. For now, if you want to test this, vent the plastic wrap, microwave for two minutes, let it rest 2-5 minutes, and microwave again. The dish should be hot. You may need to microwave again. I haven't tested this method, so let me know how it goes if you try it.

As always, leave a comment if you try it or if you have questions.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Tumble Scarf


Who doesn't love a chunky, scrunchy scarf in the winter? I designed this infinity scarf to tuck perfectly around your neck by scrunching in all of the right places. With a big hook and thick yarn, you'll be toasty in no time.

There are two sizes: size small is about 4 inches wide and size large is about 6 inches wide. Both sizes are about 42 inches in circumference, but the scarf is very stretchy.

You'll need:

  • Bulky weight yarn: 109 yards for size small, about 160 yards for size large
    • I used Loops and Threads Charisma yarn in colorway Holiday. If you choose size small, this scarf can be made with only on skein of Charisma. Just be sure not to make your beginning tail too long so you have enough yarn for the scarf.
  • A size N (9.00 mm) crochet hook
  • A yarn needle for weaving in your ends
Gauge:
11 stitches and 8 rows = 4 inches in pattern
Gauge is not essential to this pattern since you can make the beginning chain however long you want to adjust the size. But if you want to follow the pattern exactly, gauge is necessary to ensure the scarf is the proper size.

Stitch abbreviations:
  • ch - chain
  • st - stitch
  • sl st - slip stitch
  • hdc - half-double crochet
  • hdcblo - half-double crochet in the back loop only
  • hdcflo - half-double crochet in the front loop only

Pattern:
Ch 115 and sl st into the first ch to form a big loop (be careful not to twist the chain). You can chain more or less depending on how big of a scarf you want.
Round 1: Ch 2, hdc in each ch around, sl st in the top of the ch 2.
Round 2: Ch 2, hdcblo in each st around, sl st in the top of the ch 2.
Round 3: Ch 2, hdcflo in each st around, sl st in the top of the ch 2.
Repeat Rounds 2 and 3 until you have 8 rounds for size small or until you have 11 rounds for size large.

Finishing:
Weave in ends. Block if desired, but blocking is not necessary.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. Please do not sell this pattern or post it anywhere else, but you are welcome to sell anything you make from this pattern.



Thursday, February 14, 2013

Dyeing Yarn

One of my other favorite yarn-related activities is dyeing yarn. I never thought I would try it because I thought that potentially dangerous chemical dyes were my only option. I didn't want to mess with chemicals or other dyes. Then I found the world of food-safe dyes.

The first thing I discovered was Kool-Aid dyes. It was so cool that a drink mix could turn my yarn colors and it would be permanent! I dyed the first time with Grape Kool-Aid, but unfortunately I didn't quite use enough to make a bright color. I still like it since it turned out as a lavender color. I don't have any pictures for that.

Then I started experimenting with Wilton Gels to add some different colors. I started with a base of Kool-Aid and added Wilton over top.

Here's Patons Classic Wool dyed with Iced Blue Raspberry overdyed with some Violet and Royal Blue/Teal. It's supposed to be self-striping.


This time I used Black Cherry Kool-Aid and some Violet Wilton Gels to make a variegated yarn. The base is Hope Spinnery Wind Spun in the color Hash.


Not bad, right? It's so much easier than I thought. There are tons of great tutorials out there, such as this one on the Knitty website. Has anyone else tried food color dyeing?

Alison

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

And Another Thing

I also thought I'd share some more of the cockades I made. My friends were lucky enough to get two of these.
Want to make your own? Scroll down a bit for the tutorial!

Alison

Sewing Adventures




Although I rarely sew, I've decided to try some of the stuff I've seen on Pinterest. Man, I love Pinterest. :)

Here's a key fob/key chain/strap thing:
Aaand a skirt:
Sewing is fun, even if I can't do anything more complex!

Alison

Monday, January 7, 2013

DIY Les Miserables Cockade/Rosette


 
In case you are one of the few people on Earth that don't know, I love Les Miserables. So of course when I saw the rosettes Marius, Enjolras, and the others were wearing for most of the movies, I was thinking "I could totally make that!" Here's the way I made mine. If something is unclear, just drop a comment and I'll see how I can help!


Here's what you will need:
  • red, white, and blue striped ribbon: I used 7/8" ribbon. I wouldn't go much thinner, but you could go thicker. I got 4 cockades out of a 9' spool. The cockade was 2.5" wide, which I thought was perfect.
  • a place to anchor the ribbon while making the ruffle part: I used another ribbon spool
  • felt or other fabric for backing
  • hot glue gun with hot glue sticks
  • pins
  • safety pin or pin back
  • needle and navy blue thread
  • scissors
  • small button
  • something round to trace for the backing
  • pencil
 Let's Begin!

1. Follow the first 3 steps of the cockade instructions on the American Duchess blog found here. Make sure you sew carefully! These stitches are the most important factor in holding the cockade together.


    2. Glue the ribbon ends together with a small dab of glue.
    3. Put some glue onto the back of the button and press it onto the front of the cockade over the stitches.



    4. The round object should fit the back of your cockade with a little room to spare. Trace the object on the felt and cut it out.
    5. Put glue on the backing and press it onto the back of the cockade.


    6. If you are using a pin back, glue it onto the backing and skip steps 7-10. If you're using a safety pin like I did, put a line of glue as about as long as your safety pin on the backing.
    7. Press the pin into the glue. Hold it upright for a few seconds while the glue cools so the pin doesn't fall over.



    8. Cut a strip of felt that fits inside of the pin (a little less wide than the pin).
    9. Spread glue over the strip.
    10. Open the pin and press the felt over the bottom part of the pin.


     11. Wear with pride! And why don't you start a revolution while you're at it?


     Hope it went well for you! Just be warned, the button fell off of one I made for a friend, but she said she was playing with it. If you're careful you should be fine.

    Best of luck!
    Alison