written by Professional Model Stitcher Stacey Wells for Stitching the Night Away
You’ve seen all those pretty variegated hand dyed flosses? Well wouldn’t it be nice to be able to dye your own? You could do it. This is how I’ve dyed some of my own floss.
What You’ll Need
- Rit Dye
- Floss ~ white is good, but you can experiment with ecru and other light colors for interesting color combinations
- Small container
- Boiling water
- Paper towels
- Latex or rubber gloves
What You’ll Do
Mix two tablespoons of dye with ½ of cup of boiling water. At this point sprinkle a drop or two onto some paper towels to check colour keeping in mind that your end colour will be lighter than what you see. Adjust if necessary just a little at a time.
Put latex gloves on. Take the paper ends off the DMC, and holding one loop dip the floss into the dye. Now this is where the fun, and your own technique will come in twist the floss, bend it, or just let the dye run down the floss by itself. Trying different techniques will give you different end results.
When you think you have what you want rinse the floss in cold water until the water runs clear. When the water runs clear put the floss between some paper towels, and blot the floss. You don’t want to see any dye transferred onto the paper towel.
If there is dye on the paper towels then repeat rinsing step. Keep rinsing and blotting the floss until no dye is left onto the paper towels. Hand the skein of loss up to dry. An old clothes hanger over a sink works well so that it can drip dry.
When the floss 95% dry put it between an old towel and iron it the rest of the way dry.
Have fun with this. I’ve tried many things sprinkling the dye onto the floss, dunking, dunking the floss damp etc. Don’t be afraid to go nuts I’ve yet to create something I didn’t like, and have always been pleased with my results.