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!!!!