How-to: Dye Silk with Kool-aid to Make Washable Play Silks and Wearable Fabric

Dye Silk with Kool-Aid

play silks dyed with Kool-aidDepending on the exact make-up of the invidual Kool-aid color that you’ve chosen, you may notice that the wash fades the color of your play silks anywhere from not at all to a whole lot. I’ve found that with my method, red and purple are the most vivid, green fades to light blue and orange fades to pink, and yellow rinses almost completely away. If you’re truly unhappy with a particular color, you can over-dye it with something else, but even the subtler shades are really gorgeous.

6 thoughts on “How-to: Dye Silk with Kool-aid to Make Washable Play Silks and Wearable Fabric”

  1. Actually, some nylon fabrics will dye with acid dyes as well. Vintage nylon, especially, but I have noticed that many nylon trims will take up food colors, although the color isn’t as brilliant as it is on silk.

      1. Yes, but then it wouldn’t be green or natural, would it? We tried this with silks from Dharma and they are fantastic, I can’t imagine nylon being anywhere near as satisfying. Red faded to a slightly lighter color, like the inside of a strawberry before it gets to the white. Purple is lighter than it looked in the pot but still quite nice, like lavender. We did 2 lemonades + 1 cherry and it made a lovely salmon color. Looking forward to doing more if I can find lemon-lime and blue moon berry!

  2. Pingback: art projects for kids and random other stuff | a happy stitch

  3. the actual amount of kool-aid should be 1 packet to 1 oz of silk… I use the same process to hand dye wool yarn.

    You can also use eye droppers or sponge brushes to paint the ‘dye’ on the playsilk, the way you would dye a skien of yarn… You can also mix up the kool-aid, water, and vinegar in a microwave safe bowl, add the silk, and microwave for 2 minutes, let rest for 2 minutes, microwave for 2 minutes, let rest for 2 minutes, lather rinse repeat until the water is clear or mostly clear. (It will be hot, as will your playsilk at this point) dump in the sink and rinse in hot water, gradually cooling, until there is no dye coming out of them

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top