Dyeing Silk Scarves – with Silk Tie Pieces and Tissue Paper
A week or so ago the Fibre Optics Group experimented with some novel ways for dyeing silk scarves. I love the results!
Dyeing with Bleeding Tissue
Silk scarves ready for packaging
Love the soft colours of the scarves coloured by bleeding tissue paper
Have you discovered how to use bleeding tissue paper to colour some scarves? I did and love the results. I used the ‘cool’ colour package that has a variety of blues and greens with purple blue as the really dark colour.
Experimenting with different ways to use the tissue and to fold the scarf for different effects gave me ideas for use next time. My favorite scarf resulted from a lengthwise roll of the scarf after laying out the tissue along one edge of the scarf from hem to centre and then folding the second half over enclosing the tissue. I applied lots of water so that I could move the colour away from the tissue by pressing along the rolled length of the scarf. I then folded the roll and left it in a plastic bag (important to achieve a blending of colour edges) until I got home and this also helped the colours to spread and blend. We used just water but I would add vinegar to the water next time as there was a lot of colour discharge when the scarf was washed after heat setting.
Printing Scarves with Dye Transfer from Silk Scarves
Love the brilliance of the colours that many of the ties produced!
The second process used discarded silk ties for printing the scarves. The ties can be prepared in two ways. Mine were printed with deconstructed ties which were ironed to lie flat. The second method uses ties that are cut to size without deconstructing the tie.
When you deconstruct the ties you need enough cut pieces to cover the scarf from end to end. When the pieces are from a tie in its original form you only require enough to cover half of the scarf. It doesn’t matter which method you use as long as you ensure that the entire scarf is in contact with the right side of the tie fabric.
Scarves are rolled using a cotton fabric carrier and tied into bundles that are boiled for 30 minutes in a water and vinegar solution. After heat setting I had very little colour loss when the scarves were washed.
Some say taht you can use the pieces of silk ties a second time but I think that I will use them for crazy quilt patches. There seemed to be little noticeable loss of colour.
Watch for a post at Fibre Optics Group .
Silk ties used to print scarves ironed and ready for use in a crazy quilt project.
try premordanting first as vinegar does not “set” colours this way. for these dyes, i’d pre do in soda ash