Thread Dyeing Made Easy

Whenever I have my dyes made up for fabric dyeng, I like to dye some thread.  It doesn't require much dye and it gives me an opportunity to experiment.  I usually wrap my thread around an elongated object like the lid to a plastic shoebox, but then it gets all tangled as I go through the process. 

So I had a brainstorm and scrounged around for some cardboard toilet paper rolls.

I wrapped a bunch of DMC floss around the tube.  I have a cone of it.  Believe it or not, I found it on Overstock.com for a really good price.

 I secured the end with a staple.

The next step was to soak it in the soda ash solution. 

I dissolve 1/2 cup of soda ash in 1 quart of warm water.  Soda ash is essential in making sure that the dye is permanent.

 To get a variegated thread, first I dipped one end in a blue dye and then the other end in a red dye.  In the middle where the dyes overlapped, I got purple.

I repeated this with  two other colors of dye.

 And then the whole thing gets wrapped and put aside to set overnight. 

After washout, look at those beautiful colors. 

And just in case you wonder what I use them for, I do hand stitched fusible applique.  The variegated colors add another layer of interest and texture.

Have you heard that they are going to eliminate that cardboard roll inside of toilet paper to save a few cents? Actually it does make sense in terms of saving trees - lots of trees.  But we better start saving them for future thread dyeing!

Removal Of The Red Dye

Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions about how to remove the color bleed from my hand dyed thread - especially all of the knowledgeable women from the quiltart list. I tried several of the suggestions with limited results. I then found Carbona Color Remover (thanks Wheat). I probably should have tested it first in a small area, but my MO is to just forge ahead and hope for the best.

I wish I could show you the entire piece but it's for a challenge and I don't want my quilt group to see it until our big unveiling. My first problem with treating the piece was that it's in mid-construction. This is only one section and it is not a complete quilt sandwich yet. The piece is quilted and embellished and the backing is to be put on later. So this eliminated the use of the washing machine.

So I decided to try the Carbona with a dye catcher. I followed the directions on the box of Carbona, filled up the sink with water, dissolved the powder and added the dye catcher. As I lowered my piece into the sink, many changes took place. It did remove the red dye that ran from the background fabric. Whoopee! But it also unexpectedly removed some color from the other fabrics. The bad news is that almost immediately I could see that it was removing the blue color from my sky. Check out the before and after. The original blue fabric is on the right. So now I'll have to come up with a Plan B for the sky. But a bonus was that although it changed the green color of the grass, some gold appeared. The original fabric before treatment is on the top. That's good news to me, because it's a panel for an Autumn scene.

So now to get the blue back into the sky .......

My Hand-Dyed Thread Has Bled and I Need Help

Over a year ago I was dyeing some fabric and decided to use the leftovers to dye some perle cotton. I painted on the dye so that it was chunks of color - I think it's called space dyeing. I couldn't wait to find the right project.
So I found a project for using the thread. I used the lazy daisy stitch to make leaves on a tree. It was perfect for a Fall scene. The gradation in the thread color made the changing color of the leaves look so natural (as natural as a lazy daisy stitch can look).
To add to the piece, I used the disappearing blue marker to test out the placement for a few appliques. After deciding where I wanted everything to be located. I needed to remove the blue marker. Not thinking about the hand-dyed thread, I dunked the whole piece and hung it outside over my desk railing to dry.

So you can imagine my horror when I went outside to check on my piece and the red dye had run! Why hadn't I just blotted the blue marker with a damp cloth? What was I thinking? I ran inside and looked to see if I had any Retayne or something. I did find Bubble Jet Rinse. After several soakings it did remove some of the dye from the background, but you can see there is still some of the red dye remaining. HELP! I know it looks a little fuzzy, but it is visible on my quilt. Please let me know if you have had any success removing dye that has bled to someplace that it doesn't belong. And any tips for what I could have done to the thread to have kept it from bleeding would be much appreciated.