Hi all - I am new to this group. I love rag rugs and still have a few that my grandmother wove.
I have woven a few rag rugs and placemats , using old sheets and fabric scraps that were already dyed. I now have a number of plain white sheets to use for rugs which I want to dye.
I have seen people dye the whole sheet in various ways, but wondered if anyone had dyed the already torn strips much the same way one would dye skeins of yarn.
Evelyn
HI Evelyn......I have dyed cut strips, as you say, the same way a skein would be dyed. I wind the strips into skeins, tie them off loosely and dye as usual. Works quite well, but takes a rather large dyepot to do any quantity at all.
Su
Thanks Sue! Good to know someone has done this and that it works.
I have prepared a "skein" of torn rags and it is quite fuzzy, so I hope the threads don't cause a huge mess in the dye pot. I guess a cut edge would be better, but I was given this already torn ball of rag fabric so decided to use it to experiment with.
I will report back with my results.
Opino que mejor es teñir el trapo sin cortar y cortarlo despues de teñirlo, esa es mi opinion.
un saludo desde España
Hi Evelyn...
I too have dyed strips of wool and cotton at different times in the past. It should work well. Be sure to tie them loosely if you don't want a tie-dyed effect -- but actually the spots of white could be a nice effect! If you don't agitate the skeins of strips too much they shouldn't fray much more.
Please make sure you take photos and let us know how it goes!
:-) Suzy
This is also on my list of things to try...What type of dye do you and does it bleed?
Thanks
Amy
This is one of those projects I haven't done yet! Now it is spring and I can dye outside I must get on with it. I am not sure of the fibre content of the rags, but mostly cotton so will try Procion first.
I have dyed quite a lot of old sheets and curtains. I put all in the washing machine together with colour meant for that. The result is fairly even, and it is easy.
I haven't done this, but one of my friends did. She laid the sheets out in her yard and had several spray bottles mixed with various colors of RIT dye. Then she went and sprayed on the sheets with all the colors to get a nice variation of white and color.
