Dying play silks

Happy summer solstice!!!
Play silks are such wonderful "toys" that offers unlimited possibilities, in our house they have been used for dress up, castle building, nature tables, gift wrapping and much more.

We dyed play silks in garden today. Like I mentioned we have always enjoyed playing with silks, yet have until today not dyed them ourselves. We used an "acid" dye, which is good for most animal fibers, and a bit strong so use caution and gloves.

We did not follow the instruction completely as they called for the fiber to be boiled in the dye.

We simply dissolved the dye in boiling water added vinegar and more hot water in the tub we used.

The play silks we ordered  here,  already hemmed. This is a great help, as I have before ordered silk by the yard to dye, but never got around to hemming the edges.

First we soaked a silk in a slightly soaped warm water bath

and then either dipped from tub to tub for multi colored silks

or soaked for solid color

then rinsed in cold water and hung to dry.

They dry quickly and the children were quick to dress up and play with them..

Next time I think I will try making my own plant dyes.

~may your solstice be full of sunshine~