Have you ever come across a craft project and just couldn’t wait to go home and try it? For me it was this simple and really cool project from the queen of craft: Martha Stewart. Perfect for Easter egg dying or just because.
Using silk ties that are destined for Good Will, a bit of scrap fabric, and boiling water, you can dye eggs. Yup, dye them with the ties! It is sort of like magic, or chemical reactions even.
Take your silk ties and cut a swatch of the fabric, enough to cover your egg. Get out your scrap muslin or plain cotton and cut the same swatch of this fabric. Cover the egg with the silk fabric, then cover with the scrap muslin.
Martha’s instructions call for twist ties to tie up the fabric, but I used scrap yarn. Place your egg bundles in a pot of boiling water (non-aluminum/non-reactive pot) and boil for 20 minutes.
Here are a few close ups of my favorites from my attempt at this project.
This one I used an old silk scarf. But you can pretty much use any silk for this project. A blouse, ties, boxers, scarfs, if it’s made from silk, it should work.
I learned that you should cover your silk completely with your muslin fabric or you’ll contaminate your other egg packets. My pink tie got a bit of blue on it, but it still turned out ok.
For the complete instructions check out Martha Stewart. We’d love to hear how your eggs fared!
Here are mine: http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2009/03/silk-tie-eggs/
Thanks for the tip about the muslin. My maroon ties seemed to share their pinkness with a lot of the other eggs! 🙂
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Kelly,
Awesome post. We saw Martha do this on the show the other day. Mom and I just spent all morning experimenting with different colors and using silk strips. I added a follow -on post with our experiences and tips we learned from trial and error to get more vibrant, shiny eggs.
http://craftingagreenworld.com/2009/04/09/more-silk-dyed-egg-experiments-and-tips-for-vibrant-shiny-eggs/
Thanks,
Jackie
i just wonder about the types of dyes used in ties and their safety.
I bet its not organic?
What about using other things that are more natural and safer?
blueberries, beets, carrots, foods that could dye the eggs instead of chemical laced fabrics. Just a thought.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EasterEggDye.htm
try this link for more ideas for natural dyes that are safer 🙂
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