Dyeing

Today I finally took time to dye some threads with the dyes I bought at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago. It took more time than I planned, but boy, was it fun.

First I had to mix three dye baths:yellow, red and blue. From them I measured 30 different dye baths of shades of the three colors. Below is the picture of my 30 baths. By the way, I made this mess at my local library. I do not have this kind of space in my house.

After mixing the baths, I started dyeing my threads. I used DMC floss and #5 pearle cotton in white. I had raided all the craft stores in the area to get enough thread. I am sure the clerks thought I was a little nuts!

I added a few spoonfuls of dye to each bag that contained my treads. Then I squished the dye into the threads so that the dye was incorporated into them. I wanted the treads to be completely dyed, but not a solid color-more a variegated look. I decided not to mix colors within the threads, but let them be a single value of one color. I had to leave before they were done, but mixed in some salt so the dyes will react overnight. Tomorrow I hope to return and add the baking soda and start rinsing. I will take more pictures when I am done

Yes, I do have a project for all these threads. Hopefully I will have enough as it will be hard to recreate the exact threads again...The dyes are from ProChemical and the dyeing idea came from Melanie Testa. She is the author of the book Inspired by Quilts.
ProChemicals website is: http://www.prochemical.com