How to Hand Dye Embroidery Floss With Food Coloring
You don't need a professional dye kitchen to custom dye plain white cotton embroidery floss. All you need is a stainless steel pot, assorted food coloring and distilled white vinegar. Although it is traditionally used to add color to icing and baked goods, food coloring is an effective textile dye. Coloring your embroidery floss is a messy process and it takes some time, but the resulting thread will be unlike anything you can purchase at a craft store.
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Things You'll Need
- Cotton embroidery floss
- Cotton string
- Stainless steel stock pot
- Distilled white vinegar
- Food coloring
- Wooden spoon or dowel
Instructions
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Remove the paper wrappers from the hanks of embroidery floss. Do not unwind the floss; instead, leave it in hank form, with the floss wound round and round in a loop.
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2
Tie cotton string loosely around the hank at several points This will secure the floss in place and keep it from tangling during the dyeing process. Prepare all of the embroidery floss hanks in this manner.
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3
Place the prepared hanks in a stock pot and add enough water to cover the fiber. Also add 1 cup of distilled white vinegar.
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4
Allow the floss to soak overnight. When you've allowed the fiber sufficient soaking time, heat the pot over the stove until it comes to a simmer.
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5
Add food coloring to the simmering pot. If you want your embroidery floss to have a variegated look, simply add the food coloring to the surface of the water and don't stir. The dye will sink down into the pot on its own. If you want more even coloring, gently stir the contents of the pot to combine. Stir with a wooden spoon or dowel every five minutes. The more food coloring you add to your pot, the more vibrant the color will be.
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Simmer the contents of the pot and allow the embroidery floss to absorb the dye. As the fiber sucks up the dye, the pot's water will lighten in color. When the water looks clear, the fiber has absorbed all the dye. This should take about 20 minutes.
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Turn off the burner and allow the embroidery floss to cool in the pot.
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Rinse the dyed floss in cold water once it has cooled to room temperature. During the rinse, the excess dye will wash away from the fiber. Once the rinse water runs clear, wring out the hanks of embroidery floss and hang them to dry away from direct sunlight.
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Tips & Warnings
You can add more than one shade of food coloring to your dye pot for multicolored hanks of embroidery floss. Just apply food coloring to the surface of one section of your pot and then add additional colors in other sections. Try to leave a little clear water between each section of food coloring, as this will minimize the chance that the dyes will combine and give your floss a muddy appearance.
Regardless of how much dye you add to your dye bath, you probably won't be able to attain brilliant colors. The finished floss will likely have soft pastel hues. To achieve vibrant colors, you will need to use professional fiber reactive dyes.
If it looks like all the color is washing away from your floss as you rinse, fill a container with water and add a cup of distilled white vinegar. Allow the floss to soak in this fluid for 30 minutes and try rinsing again.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit dye image by Orlando Florin Rosu from Fotolia.com
