dye party.

Erin G.

Apr 13

It had been a minute since my crafty lady crew gathered for a crafternoon. We'd been dye-ing to create together, and we'd each been hoarding loads of fabric for the occasion! Here's how it all went down.

We prepped our materials. One day prior, we washed our fabric in natural detergent (for best results!). On the day of we mixed powder dyes plus warm water in squeeze bottles (for classic tie dye) and in buckets (for dip dyeing). We set up our work stations so we had an area for fabric manipulation and soda ash water soaking, an area for dyeing, an area for fabric resting before rinsing, a rinse station, and an area for hanging (and taking photos, let's be honest).

Next we folded fabric. I like to fold all my fabric at the same time, then dye all at once to limit having to rinse or change gloves too many times, and also the chance of me getting unwanted dye on the next fabric I touch. But the process is up to you! Rubber bands work great on their own for adding patterns and negative space, but you could also use things like acrylic shapes and clamps for more variation.

We dyed so many things! And I had a purple/pink moment. For the squeeze bottle dye it helped to have a container to catch any excess dye. At the end it's also fun to sop up the excess dye on a last piece of fabric to see what fun colors you get (usually a nice burnt orangey-brown color!).

Here's how they turned out. The dye we used didn't require to sit for hours, so we revealed all the pieces shortly after dyeing.

I think my favorite things to dye are pouches because they make gifting a little extra special! I'd like to get better at dyeing wearables, though - maybe with the right color combinations and folding techniques I can get there.

Thank you to my crafty lady crew (Kristin and Angel!) for sharing this moment with me! Bring on the craft parties! Materials and resource lists below so you can host your own crafternoon with your crew.

Materials*: