Woollyness

Dyeing woolly blankets.

You will need a 100% wool blanket, and one (or more- see below) tins of Dylon multi purpose dye *

Tear the blanket into manageable sized pieces - I normally tear it into eighths.

Dunking two** pieces of the blanket at a time, I follow the basic manufacturers instructions here (click on the link for multi-purpose dye).  However, although I mix the dye up and add to a large pot of water as written, I then veer away from any exact instructions.

The amount of water that goes into my big old pot varies, and I usually forget how long the blanket has been simmering away, so it ends up cooking for longer than specified .This doesn't matter though, wool is only supposed to get 10 mins dunking on a gentle simmer to avoid any shrinking, but we want the wool to felt as much as possible, so leave it for longer, say half an hour (ish).

When done, remove from the pan , allow to cool, and rinse as instructed.

Look at the state of my poor wooden worktop. I am a bad woman.

Do not throw away the dye bath as instructed - that would be a waste, but use it for dyeing your next two pieces. You will get a paler colour, which is what makes it fun - you don't how it's going to look until it'd done.

You can repeat this process, using the whole blanket, depending how pale you want to go. Just top up the dye pot with boiling water if neccesary.

You can also add further dyes to your dye pot for interesting results. In this case, for the first two dips I used Dylon 'Coffee' and then threw some Dylon Black into the pot, to get some lovely black/ greys,

Bottom up ( as the actress said to the Bishop)

Ist dipping with black

Two further dunkings to produce some lovely greys

Ist dip with Coffee

2nd Coffee dip.

At the top is some creamy white blanket which I left undyed.

All ready to be made into teddies, kittens, puppies and elephants etc.

* I use Dylon as it's pretty much all we get over here, but I'm sure this method can be used with other hot/cold hand dyes as long as you follow the manufacturers mixing/rinsing out instructions.

** If you want more of the first colour, you can put 4 or possibly more pieces in at a time, try it.

Have fun. Do let me know if you give it a go , I'd love to see what colours you achieve.

Update... Please read Karen's comment below, re colourfastness. I have hand washed some of my woolly fabrics, with a very mild detergent, and had no problems. But Dylon do state that colourfastness isn't guaranteed with the all purpose dye, and to wash separately. Thanks for pointing that out Karen. : )

Comments

[Bessilu]

How cool! Did the stripes disappear when you dyed the material? How gigantic is that pot? Have you done it in the wash? I'm going to thrift a blanket!!

[scribblesnbits]

Wow! They came out fabulous! I bet they're so soft.

[Gina]

Love all the colors LYN! Felt is so fun to work with, I can't wait to see what cuties you make out of these.

[Ali]

There's going to be a global shortage of second hand blankets. Giving this a try as soon as I get my hands on one.

[Krista]

Oh man I hope the wool blanket gods are smiling on me when I step into a thrift store next... those things are rare around here (especially white ones)! But what a lovely tutorial and your results are rich and gorgeous. Can't wiat to be able to try this. Thank you :)

[Karen at Silver Seams]

A word of warning, though: all-purpose dyes are generally adequate for wool *if* it's something that's not going to be washed (or even spot-cleaned), but if you want true colorfastness you almost *have* to use acid dyes on wool. Once you've dyed something, test swatches to see if cleaning it is going to clean (some of) the color out as well.

The good news is, food coloring is generally an acid dye... Kool-Aid dyeing is great fun, for instance (and very educational to us mommies with the result that for drinking, we use non-colored Kool-Aid Invisible). The bad news is, it's not a coldwater dyeing method. This is usually okay if you're working with thrifted stuff, since almost *everything* is better felted, isn't it?

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml is a really good resource for all sorts of dyeing on all sorts of fibers.

[debra]

These are gorgeous! Rit dye is what we get here and I've never had good luck with it. The colors are just too dull. Yours look perfect!

[Snowbear]

those colors look fabulous on that wool--makes me itching to do some stiching!
thanks for sharing, sweetie pie.

[Kirsty]

Very cool, lots of good tips!

[Vicky]

I really like the different shades of colour. I have used machine dyes on blankets which also work well but give a large amount of one colour only.Can't wait to see what you make from them!

[julie]

Wow, lovely! You make it sound so simple!

[adele]

great! I love the colours!

[joleen]

Fabulous!

[hillary]

ooh! love them! wish I had the patience.

[Simmyb]

I was really inspired by the picture you made with Madeleine Millington before so I had a stab at blanket dyeing and then my class used the pieces to make pictures. I got some lovely colours and really nice results in the class. As most of my supplies have been used up I need to re-dye some more blanket and you've inspired me to have another bash. Thanks.

[rhelynn]

Beautiful!! They look like stacks of wool felt I've seen in specialty stores! I've never seen that type of dye before, I'll have to check it out!

[Rose]

Thanks for the tips! Love those colors.

[kt]

Is there anything you can't do? You are Super-Mom-Crafter-Wife-CoolBlogger-Gal. I offer oranges as an altar-offering as citrus is plentiful here in the Southwest US and persimmons are at a premium.

Please blog on.

[Siri]

Thank you! Thank you! In anticipation of your post, last weekend I walked out empty handed from a quilt store filled with gorgeous dyed woolens and into the Mega Thrift a few doors down only to come across the perfect creamy woolen blanket. It's a bit rough feeling, but I'm hoping it'll soften up when felted.
I'm running up against a couple of problems, though: 1) I've been looking for a solid white or grey woolen blanket for a bed for years, 2) I've fallen crazy in love with Turkey Feather's Blanket Statement 2006 here: http://turkeyfeathers.typepad.com/photos/blanket_statement/index.html
I'm afraid I won't have the guts to dye this blanket, even if I were guaranteed as lovely results as yours. I do have a pale yellow one I could care less about, though!

[Helen]

ohhhh I love this, those graduated colours just look so comfy.

[Sherrie]

Just a note ..had to let you know how much I have enjoyed reading your blog,I keep checking back also,I Love your article on Dyeing woolly blankets, it is some thing I'd love to try,But didn't even know where to begin!You sure made my day,Thank You!!
Have a Great Day
Sherrie

[Gina]

Wow, those are amazing. Love the colors!

[Fran]

Excellent...can't wait to give this a shot.

[emily]

This is just amazing, thank you so much for sharing! I am looking forward to trying this in the next few months, I'll let you know how it goes!

[eireann]

oh wow oh wow!

I love the colors you chose and the way you displayed the dyed blankets here. I know that kool-aid dying works on wool, so you might try that if you ever want bright colors (as someone said above, it's an acid dye and will stay in better, too).

:)