plain play silks and dye

[mama_kass]

I want to dye some play silks for my boys. Where can I get good quality materials?

[ma2maya]

Now I just want to warn you ahead of time, once you start you can't stop. Its an addiction, but there are many people here and on other forums that will support and enable the habit :wink

So let me be the enabler :LOL
Dharma (http://www.dharmatrading.com) is pretty much a one stop shop that makes things easy. Though Exotic Silks (http://www.exoticsilks.com) has better prices on their silks they don't carry dyes etc.
Tie-dyed.com (http://www.tie-dyed.com) has a big selection of procion dyes but their scarves have yet to go live online. Check out the forum (http://forum.tie-dyed.net/) it has a lot of helpful info.

Have fun!
Kathy

[mama_kass]

Thank you Cathy. These links will provide me with everything I need to get started.

[boobiemonster]

Hi,
I was wondering if Kool Aid works on silk.
Thanks.

[Momalea]

Kool Aid works great on silk (and wool). You can do a search at MDC for instructions on how to do it or google it. It's easy to dye with Kool Aid and a lot of fun.

[meco]

If Kool-aid works so would cake dyes (like Wiltons) and fool coloring right? :)

I get better colors with food coloring.

[mama_kass]

Wow! Kool Aid and food coloring will dye silk! Someone please post a pic.

[boobiemonster]

I went out and bought a lot of Kool Aid and tried to find silk. All the fabric stores carry Silky which is 100% polyester. I called numerous fabric stores with no luck. I finally found one store in Seattle that carries China Silk 8mm for $10 a yard. Is that expensive? Can I find it cheaper online? Do I want China silk? Is 8mm what I want?

Thanks.
I can't wait to dye!!!!!! :D

[knittingmomma]

Check out this site to order some pre-hemmed silks - www.dharmatrading.com

Best wishes,
Tonya

[Kari_mom]

These are the ones you want at Dharma: 8mm china silk (http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1741-AA.shtml). As you can see by the prices, it is much cheaper to buy them cut to size and hemmed than to buy silk yardage at full retail. 35x35 is the most common play silk size. We like the really big ones too, found under sarongs (http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/2102-AA.shtml) The long skinny silks are perfect for belts and rivers.

[gardenmom]

I have a question about the kool aid. I made some a long time ago for dd and some of our friends' kids, and they came out great. When I washed them a few months later, they ended up fading a lot...they look like barely pastel now.

Is this a normal problem with kool aid dye, or did I do something wrong?

[mpeel]

You might not have "cooked" them long enough or, you might have needed vinegar to set the dye.