Dyeing a Playsilk

At the beginning of the month, we tried our hand at dying silk with Kool-Aid. To make a nice, autumn-y colored silk, we decided to try the Peach Mango flavor.

Can I just say that this smelled fabulous?

Anyway, I had found several varying and often contradictory accounts on other blogs about the correct way to dye silk with Kool-Aid. So we just decided to wing it. This may not be the best way to do it, but it worked for us.

After mixing one part distilled white vinegar with three parts water, we brought our liquid to a boil and added the silk.

When it was thoroughly soaked, Vance added the Kool-Aid and stirred it in.

Edward took a turn stirring too. The water turned bright, yellowish-orange, and did I mention it smelled heavenly?

We simmered it for an hour, then washed it out. And washed it out again. And washed and washed and washed some more. At long last, it stopped bleeding, and we were left with a pale, shimmery silk that couldn't decide if it was orange tinted yellow, or yellow tinted orange. It's been gracing our nature table all month long, providing a beautiful backdrop for our bits of October loveliness.

I didn't have the best lighting for this shot, so the color isn't exact, but since I'm just about finished catching up with the October highlights, I'm not going to wait around for the opportunity to get a better photo. And since the month is drawing to a close, this particular playsilk will shortly retire from tablecloth duty and join the other playsilks on toy detail. I'm sure it eagerly awaits its freedom.