BEDDING — Inside the Home

Yarn Dye

How to Dye your Own Yarn

Dying your own yarn is not difficult and can be fun! There are a lot of methods for dying, but the one I like best uses unsweetened drink mixes, such as Kool-Aid or Flavor-Aid and a microwave. You must use 100% wool yarn (or another protein fiber) for the color to take. I’ve used Fisherman’s Wool with good results. To prepare the wool, make bundles of about two ounces each, tied with a short string. (I use yarn to tie my bundles, and then keep the ties on index cards with details on the yarn and amounts of mix I used for future reference. I experiment a lot!)

Soak wool bundles in hot water with a squirt of liquid dish soap for ½ hour. While the bundles are soaking prepare your dye. You can use plastic cups for mixing. I like to mix up a bunch in a plastic container with a lid and store it for later use. Start with one package of drink mix for each ounce fiber you intend to dye. Mix with six ounces water and two ounces distilled white vinegar.

In summary:

For each ounce fiber:

1 pkg. drink mix

6 oz. water

2 oz. vinegar

Feel free to experiment. The more drink mix you use, the brighter the color will be. You can mix several colors in separate cups and spatter the yarn with a turkey baster (or paint brush, or eye dropper…) or you can combine different flavors to get a blend.

Line a Pyrex-type glass casserole dish with plastic wrap, and remove the yarn from its bath. Carefully squeeze out the excess water. If you agitate the yarn too much it will start to felt, so you want to be very gentle! Place the yarn on the plastic wrap and pour the dye over it. Make sure all the yarn gets covered by the dye mix.

Wrap the plastic tightly around the yarn. You may want to secure the ends with masking tape, but it’s not necessary. Squish the liquid around again to make sure all the yarn has been covered. Microwave the bundle in the glass dish on high for two minutes. Remove the dish from the microwave and let rest for two minutes more. Check to see if the liquid is clear. Be careful, as it will be very hot! Keep hands and face away from the bundle in case steam is released.

If the liquid is not clear, return the bundle back to the microwave for another two minutes at a time. When the liquid is colorless it is finished. Remove the plastic wrap and rinse carefully in hot water. Feel free to let the yarn cool in the air. I set mine outside on the patio. As yarn cools you may use cooler water to rinse. (The more extremes it is exposed to, the more likely it is to felt.)

When the yarn is cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess water and hang to dry. My neighbors know it has been a dying day when they see the multi-colored streamers swooping around my tree branches out front! On wet days I drape yarn on hangers and let it dry inside. Be sure to line the floor with towels or newspapers to catch the drips.

Just as few finishing notes: This microwaving method is best if you are dying a small quantity of yarn and want to achieve a mottled effect. For a more uniform effect, you can dye yarn in a large pan on the stovetop. I have also tried dying finished articles, which worked fine, although the color will settle deeper in some spots. One of the most charming results of dying with drink mixes is that the finished yarn smells something like its flavor. Yum!

About the Author

About the Author:
Emma Snow is a creator at Craft Kits http://www.craft-kits.net leading portals for crafts and creative individuals.

Can I tie-dye yarn?

And what kind?

You can dye and overdye natural fiber yarns, but not acryllic or man-made fiber yarns. Man-made fibers are colored before the liquid is extruded to make the yarn. You can put it into a dyebath, but don't expect permanent results.

Animal fibers are probably the easiest to take dye up, but will also felt easily if not handled carefully--the exception being superwash yarns. Acid dyes, including soft drink mix and dyes sold specifically for wool work best on these. The dyestuff is mixed with boiling water and an acid, usually for home dyeing one uses white vinegar, is added. The yarn is tied off in sections and pre-wet in hot water with a bit of dishwashing detergent in it and soaked for about a half an hour to get it thoroughly wet. Take a long sheet of plastic wrap and lay it out on a counter, put the drained yarn (you can squeeze most of the water out of it gently) on the plastic. Take your dye and spoon it onto the sections where you want the color to be, taking care not to use so much dyestuff that it runs. Then roll it up in the plastic wrap and put it into a steamer with some simmering water under it and simmer it in the steamer for 20 minutes to half an hour, taking care not to boil the water out of the pot. Let the yarn cool and rinse it thoroughly in the sink and hang it to dry. You can also put the wet yarn into a canning jar with dye in the bottom, add a second dye to the middle of the yarn, and a third dye to the top and put it in a pot of boiling water, again simmering it for about a half an hour for the dye to take up.

Cotton and plant fiber yarns need to have dyes specific to plant fibers to dye well. They aren't my favorites for dyeing because it isn't as easy as dyeing animal fibers.

Please be aware, for safety's sake, all pots, pans, steamers, dye jars, measuring instruments, including measuring spoons and cup measures, and stirring equipment ESPECIALLY if you use chemical dyes, should be used only for dyeing and once used for dyeing, even Kool-Ade dyeing, should not be used for cooking or food use again. For this reason I have a set of equipment just for dyeing and use disposeable paper cups and chop sticks for dyeing so they can be tossed out afterwards. A dust mask and rubber gloves should be worn while dyeing, and any surface you work on should be covered either with a plastic tablecloth or damp newspaper to control the spread of the dyepowder. Even Kool-Ade can be dangerous if you have respiratory problems and chemical dyes fly all over the place. Don't let anyone drink leftover dyestuff of any sort. If you want to chat further about this, please e-mail me.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 9:20 pm and is filed under bedding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.