Dye, Cheesecloth, Dye!

I have a photo shoot tomorrow for a set of 2 month old twins! SO exciting!!!  In preparation for shoot, I searched the internet on how to make my own baby wraps. I love to be crafty so I thought this was a fun way to actually get a project done.  Seriously, just ask my husband how many unfinished projects I have laying around lol :-) 

So with that said, I went to Joann's Fabric and I bought a 6 yard package of cheesecloth, and two boxes of RIT dye. 

I'll walk you through the process I used as it's a combination of processes that I found on the internet.  I was worried it wasn't going to work, but I am sooooo glad it did!  

And me being me, I didn't think to capture the process until I had already gotten started.  SO with that being said, these are all cell phone pictures, except for the 2 that show the cheesecloth drying. #fail 

The Process:

Supplies I used:  
-bucket
-plastic bowl
-plastic spoon
-plastic measuring cup
-1 6yard package of cheesecloth 
-1 box each of desired color RIT Dye 

Since I didn't need one long piece of cheesecloth, I unrolled mine, folded it long ways in half, and then in half again and cut on the folds until I was left with 4 equal sections of cheesecloth. 

I read the directions how to use the RIT dye and altered them a little bit based on what I read online.  I added enough hot tap water into the bucket and the bowl to easily cover the cheesecloth once submerged. 

I poured in the powered dye (you can use the liquid kind too, I only needed a small amount so I opted for the powder) into the measuring cup and add about 2-3 cups of hot tap water slowly and stir well.  You want to make sure it's completely diluted. 

Diluting the dye in the measuring cup.

I poured each diluted mixture into my bucket and bowl (rinsing the spoon well before mixing the next color), and gave it a quick mix with my plastic spoon.  

Next I added the cheesecloth slowly into the water ensuring that everything was getting coated well. *Note - I added my cheesecloth in dry, but I've read that you can also wet it first, not sure if this changes the way the dye will be absorbed into the fabric or not. 

Feeding the cheesecloth into the dye slowly.

Once the cheesecloth was fully submerged, I gave it a few stirs to make sure it was all getting evenly coated.  I left mine in the dye for about 5 minutes each, to make sure that the color would take since this was my first time dying anything. As per the directions on the RIT box, you should only leave your fabric in the dye long enough to achieve the color you want.

Stirred the cloth a few times for about 5 minutes.

Once the blue and pink pieces achieved the colors I wanted, I took one at a time and rinsed them in warm water, gradually changing to cooler water temperatures until the water ran clear.    

I read that you shouldn't ring out your cheesecloth to prevent blotchiness, but I wanted to make sure I got all the water out so it would dry faster.  It rang well and I had no trouble with blotchiness. 

Once my two main colors were finished, I still had 2 pieces of cheesecloth left.  This is where the REAL experimenting came in.  I dumped out about 3 cups of the pink dye/water solution, and added about 3 cups of the blue solution into the bowl where I had the pink dye and I made purple.

Look how fancy, I know how to make colors :D

The purple came out a little darker than I had hoped.  If I ever have this color combination again I may opt to add a little less of the royal blue to the pink for a littler shade.  

Next I was starting to dump out the blue and add more hot water to it to make the final piece of cheesecloth a littler shade of blue.  About half way through the dilution process I decided I wanted to make it green instead. I had read that you can add food coloring and that it can help in the dying process.  So I added about 15 drops of yellow food coloring. 

The water wasn't quite the shade of green I wanted, but I figured if it didn't work out, I can always re-dye it with real green colored dye.

In the end, the green when rinsed completely washed away.  Guess I need to do some more reading on how to use food coloring to dye fabrics with.   

Instead of green, and the fact that I may have diluted the blue a little too much, I ended up with a lilac color.  Which was a pleasant surprise when I thought I had surely messed up the color and would have to re-dye it.  But I decided I could totally live with it.  

So last step was to take the rinsed pieces and open them all the way up and hang them to dry.  (Insert daily picture- you the know, the only pictures of the this process I actually captured with my camera and not my phone) 

Lastly here is the final product, dyed, dried, and folded.  LOVE the outcome! I can't wait to do this again and try so many more colors. I have SOOOO many ideas what I could use these for in future shoots! 

I'm pretty sure I saved myself some big bucks by making these myself instead of buying them.  4 homemade newborn/baby wraps (or whatever other kind of prop I want to use them for) made from 1 package of cheesecloth and 2 packages of dye for just under $10.  #WIN 

I may try the liquid dyes next time to not waste so much dye.  I had to dump out the left overs as I couldn't think of what else I could dye lol 

~Lita