Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Wine-Dyeing Experiment - Success!!

So I'm not a big wine drinker.  I know some people who have wine with dinner most nights.  It wasn't part of how I was raised.  I will occasionally pick up a bottle, and I try different varieties to see if I like it or not.  Well, now I know what I can do with wines that I just don't enjoy. :)  I saw on Patti's blog (Tapestry of Dreams in the left sidebar, and you'll have to scroll down a few posts on her blog) a picture of fabric a friend of hers had dyed, and I wanted to try it.  But there were no instructions anywhere.  I looked at a couple of sites dedicated to helping people dye fabric properly.  One cautioned against using wine, because it doesn't really "dye" the fabric, it just stains it.  But since I'm planning to use this fabric for unwashable smalls, I'm not worried about the potential fading.  I had to just kind of guess how I wanted to do it, and I'm really happy with the results.

Yesterday's experiment: Shiraz.  It just hit my palate wrong, I think.  It's a very strong, dark red wine.  And it dyes fabric to a beautiful rosy-purple.  There was about half the bottle left, which I poured into a plastic container (large enough for fabric to get in, but narrow enough to make the wine kind of deep).  I wish I'd taken a picture of that part.  After soaking, I rinsed the fabric in cold water until the water ran clear (it didn't take long at all), squeezing and scrunching the fabric as I rinsed to try to increase the variations in color.

I used 28-count white Monaco for dyeing - I got a quarter cut (18"x30") from 123stitch.com and used half of it (so, 18"x15") for wine-dyeing.  I did cut that piece into 2 pieces so I could try different effects.  Shrinkage - about 1/2 inch each piece, each way.  My 9"x15" pieces are now about 8.5"x14.5".  Oh, and look who remembered to zig-zag her edges first!!

Piece #1 - this one I scrunched up and put in the bottom of the container.  It soaked for 4.5 hours.  The overall effect is very subtle, with delicate variations in color.


Piece #2 - I rolled this one, and it sat on top of the other piece.  It soaked for 4 hours with the occasional swish to make sure the whole thing was coated.  You can see some of the roll lines, which is what I hoped for.

After letting it dry overnight, I gave each piece a good press with a hot, steamy iron, then stretched them a little.  So anything that looks like creases in the picture is actually where the fabric dyed darker. :)

The other half of this fabric will be tea/coffee-dyed, probably later this week.  I just love having custom fabric on hand.  And this Shiraz-dyed fabric is going into something special very soon!!!!

7 comments:

Nima said...

oh...that's so pretty...i love the colour

Jules said...

Very cool! Maybe I will use that 2+ year old bottle of Arbor Mist for a little dyeing attempt. Hmmm...

drea_dear said...

Jules - the Arbor Mist would probably smell delish!! LOL - once it's dry, even the very strong Shiraz didn't smell all that wine-y, I'm glad. I hate that smell.

Angela said...

Love the colour although I'm not sure I'd use wine to dye my fabric as I'd much rather drink it,.

Natasha said...

WHat a great idea, I never would have thought to use wine, I am a wine drinkier but I bought some from Trader Joe's the other day and it is terrible, now I can put it to good use and not feel guilty for the waste :)

I think I will give it a try this week.
Take Care

Crossed Yarns said...

Hi, Andrea. I've just worked out what that something special was 'cause I just got it in the mail! I've been doing the happy dance :-) The pijncushion is gorgeous and I just loveit.Thanks so much. I'll take a photo when there's some sun(in winter the sun's gone by 5:00pm :-( and do the show and tell on the TTE2 Blog. Thank you so much! {hugs} Pokua

Sunshine said...

Such a Neat Idea, and nothing wasted! You did a Great Job! Thanks for sharing!