Fun stuff!

A friend made these colourful pin cushions. The base is a candleholder. We are planning to make some to sell at the Ridge Meadows Quilt Show in May 2013.

Below are some purchases from the 'Bead Freaks' shop on Main Street at 28th in Vancouver. The yarn is hand dyed hemp. The store carries many unusual beads and are well priced to sell.

Space Dyed Threads

With a group of friends, we dyed a variety of cotton threads to use for embroidery or couching.The results were lovely. I did mine with unmeasured breaks in the length of colour painted on the thread. You can also dab on small variation of colours. A touch of white left in the thread gives a sparkle.Some threads were fine, some coarse and one even flat like a fine ribbon. The process is simple:

1. make a hank of threads and tie loosely in two different places.

2. spray the threads with warm water and let it soak in

3. using textile paints, paint the thread in the colours you like and let the paint soak in.

We tried diluting the paint and it made pale threads. Paint directly from the bottle will give more intense colour. Jaquard dyna-flow works well.

4. hang to dry

5. shake out the threads and lay on an ironing board, cover with a cloth and steam
6. make into a hank.

You now have thread that is inexpensive to make and in the colours you want for a project!

Bonus:

Before you hang the threads to dry, you can lay a piece of white cloth under the dyed thread and let the excess dye soak into the fabric.

Now you have fabrics with interesting and unique variations in colour.