How to Bleach and Overdye Hungarian Embroideries

My Mom is downsizing and I've been helping her make some difficult decisions.  Among them: what to do with all of the Hungarian embroideries?  I was lucky enough to receive an absolutely GORGEOUS, massive, all white embroidery, handmade by a relative in Hungary, as a wedding present.  I immediately framed it before anyone laid their grubby paws on it, but some of the embroideries in my Mom's collection aren't really frame-worthy.  Some are really bright colors that just don't suit her decor, while others have some stains or damage (because they were used - which is a GOOD thing!).  There are a few she really treasures but the colors are too bold, so I decided to try some experimenting.

Could I bleach and/or dye her Hungarian embroideries?

This will be an ongoing experiment, but I started with two that weren't so special.  Some of the thread in the oval one had run after being laundered and the round one had some tears, so I figured I had nothing to lose.  Here they are "before":  

To bleach them, I followed instructions I found online for bleaching fabric: I started with a one part bleach to four parts water concoction but, when the color wouldn't lift like I wanted, added a little more bleach (wearing rubber gloves and working in a bucket in my laundry room).  I kept checking on them every 10 minutes and eventually let them soak a few hours before removing and neutralizing the bleach with a 50/50 water/hydrogen peroxide mix.  Afterwards, I gently hand washed and line dried them.

Here's what the embroideries looked like, freshly bleached:

Interestingly, different embroidery threads have different colorfastness.  The long piece bleached so beautifully.  It's such a pretty color palette of soft muted hues - my Mom barely let me photograph the "after" - she wanted to take it home immediately.

So that one's a success! 

Although we both think it looks so much better, neither of us were smitten with the round one yet, so I decided to overdye it.  I didn't want to purchase a new powdered dye until I had a better idea of how the threads would take the color, so I just used the same Blueberry Procion dye I used for my DIY ice dyed pillows.  I let the embroidery soak in the soda ash fixative required for this brand of dye and then wrung it out before letting it soak overnight in a concentrated dye solution.  The next morning, I rinsed until the water ran clear and hand laundered.

The result is a very deep, inky embroidery but you can still faintly see some variation where the deeper colors stuck around.  I like the overdyed look - this inky blue looks dramatic!  But I think I want to experiment with some different colors.

In one part of the design, the pattern had torn from use and wear, so I tried trimming it out with manicure scissors but it took forever, so I really need to sit down on a cold, rainy day and tidy that up some more.  For now I'm going to pretend the ragged look is intentional because, combined with the deep hue, it's got a Halloween-y sort of vibe.

Currently the house reeks like bleach because I'm still experimenting but, a word of caution: I tried to bleach a very worn, very long table runner and was so excited, envisioning a pretty pastel version but the color wouldn't lift from the red (my least favorite color in the world).  So I let it soak overnight and, when I was convinced it wouldn't lift anymore, removed it from the bleach - only to have it disintegrate in my hands!

Whoops. 

I got over confident.  I should have done the 10 minute intervals.  I knew bleach can eat away fabric but I was just so stubborn.  I hate red.  So, lesson learned: keep an eye on the bleach bath! 

I just wanted to share this little experiment with you.  I'll keep you posted because we're going to be trying some more bleaching/dyeing experiments and also - hopefully - re-purposing some of these table doilies into items we'll use and love.  Even the one I ruined, I hope to turn into some kind of appliqued design.

Wish me luck...

P.S. If you're curious, you can read more about Hungarian embroidery in this post.

20 Modern DIY Projects to Dye For | How to Dye Anything!

Over the years, I have gotten really into dyeing fabric: from updating tired linens to saving money on clothes by giving them a fresh new look, I really love a good DIY dye project.  Plus dyeing has to be the easiest craft on the planet - it's such a fun way to dip your toes into the world of DIY.  If you find yourself with extra time this holiday weekend, here are my favorite DIY dye projects from the Dans le Lakehouse archives - plus a bevy of other dye ideas I can't wait to try.

Try... Dyeing Yarn for a Wall Hanging

Whether you're a knitter or a just making a cute wall hanging, don't settle for store bought yarn colors.  Yarn can be so easy to dye!  Dip dye it (like the wall hanging from Brit & Co, below), tie dye it, use natural dyes or a bottle of turquoise Rit - the sky is the limit.

Try... Updating Crocheted Doilies with a Bold New Color

My DIY dyed doilies will be making another appearance this year because they complement wintry tablescapes - and my teal dining room chairs! - so beautifully.  But I have a whole box of vintage doilies, so I've been considering a follow-up project in turquoise or indigo... ( I used Rit dye in teal for these ones).

Try... Updating Old or Discolored Linens with a Fresh New Hue

Once I saw how much more modern and interesting vintage doilies look once they're dyed a fresh new color, I decided to update a vintage white linen table cloth and napkin set with a much more dinner-friendly gunmetal grey hue.  Dye is a great way to make tired, maybe a little discolored or stained, table linens look and feel new for holiday entertaining - or just to complement this year's holiday color palette!

 
Try... Brushing on Dye for a Hand Painted Look

If you want to get a little more hands on with dyeing, try brushing it on to create a one-of-a-kind design with a painterly vibe - it looks perfect on a napkin with modern brass flatware.  Get inspired by this tutorial from Home-ology.

Try... Ice Dyeing Napkins or Pillows for a Watery Handmade Fabric Design

The ultimate set-it-and-forget-it DIY dye project!  Pile up some fabric after soaking it in soda ash, cover it with ice, sprinkle with cold water dye, and just let the ice melt.  It's a DIY so nice, I've tried it twice: see my DIY ice dyed pillows and various color combinations of ice dyed napkins.  

Try... Making a Dyed Dog Leash from Rope

I'm dubious about whether this DIY dog leash would be tough enough for Szuka but if you have a pup on the gentler side, how sweet is this dip dyed rope leash?  Great tutorial from Brit & Co.  

Try... Dyeing Bottle Brush Trees for the Holidays and Beyond

With the holidays approaching, it's time to start thinking about festive tablescapes and mantle decor!  Try a classic bottle brush tree collection and customize it to match your decor with this easy DIY dyed bottle brush tree tutorial.  Snag a pack of bottle brush trees online and give them a bleach bath before dyeing them whatever color you like - or just buy some pale pink frosted bottle brush trees, I won't tell (you've got 19 other projects to try here!).
  

Try... Dyeing Fresh Cut Flowers Pretty Colors

I actually tried this during the summer and dyed a bunch of daisies a deep indigo blue - actually, I did it a few times and kept forgetting to photograph them for a tutorial!  It was such a fun project - kids would love it.  Look how great these roses from hello, Wonderful turned out:

Try... Dyeing Old Clothes to Make Them Feel New

Find a perfect holiday dress or top but it's the wrong color?  Take a stab at dyeing it yourself with this easy tutorial (click over for some trouble shooting tips for the best coverage).

Try... Dyeing a Rug for a Trendy Over-dyed Look

Yup, you can dye rugs at home!  Hide a stain, or just give a thrift store find that gorgeous over-dyed look, with this tutorial from Design Lines Ltd.  Sweet Paul has a lovely turquoise over-dyed rug tutorial too.

Try... Dyeing Jeans Darker to Get the Perfect Wash and Fit

Why is it that the darker the denim, the more dressy it looks?  Deep indigo denims can pass for business casual and even look great with a sparkly top for holiday parties.  If you found the perfect fit - in the wrong hue - just dye them darker!  Read my tutorial for all of the details on dyeing jeans a darker shade.

Try... Making a Hand-Dyed Embroidery Thread Tassel Necklace

This necklace started out as a pile of embroidery thread and jewelry-making supplies.  Learn how to make these delicate tassels from Oh the Lovely Things and hand dye them any color - even ombre! - to make a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind necklace.  Or add hand dyed tassels to a throw pillow or blanket.

Try... Experimenting with Shibori

If anyone is keeping track, shibori dyeing, with a long and rich history and sudden resurgence in popularity, might just go down in history as THE most popular DIY dye project - ever!  There are tons of tutorials out there, but this one from A Beautiful Mess is great for beginners.  After that, you can learn to experiment with different binding techniques - this is an excellent tutorial - and use real indigo, or just stick to rubber bands and Rit dye, either way it will look gorgeous and unique every time (here's a great DIY Indigo dye starter kit)

Try... Whipping up Easy Dip Dyed Napkins

While shibori has taken the lead as the ultimate DIY dye project, sometimes the simplicity of a good dip dyed project just looks right.  From throw pillows to napkins, dip dyeing can lend a watery, lakeside vibe to any home decor piece - plus it's super easy!  Check out my dip dyeing tutorial for trouble shooting tips and tricks and get the scoop on achieving a softer gradient.

Try... Dip Dyeing Anything You Can Get Find

With the basics of dip dyeing mastered, the simple technique need not be limited to fabrics!  Check out this tutorial from I Spy DIY for a cute and quirky dip dyed planter:

These dip dyed wood candlestick holders from Almost Makes Perfect are so pretty too (and you can buy all kinds of unfinished wood candle holders online, if you don't want to make them from scratch):

Try... Dyeing Wood!

Did the DIY above have you thinking, "I never realized you could dye wood"?  Dyed wood can look really amazing.  I've experimented with it (after seeing the image below) and made dyed birch slice coasters in a deep green shade.  I'm planning to experiment some more and share a tutorial (the only trickiness is the moisture + wood, which can ruin a project quickly with warping).

P.S. Have you seen this article about indigo dyed wood applications?  So good.

Try... Experimenting with Dyeing Fabric Naturally

Next on my DIY dye to-do list is experimenting with all natural dyes.  I've already been using purple cabbage as a natural alternative to food coloring, so the next step is to try out some natural dye methods.  Tumeric makes a brilliant, bright yellow (as demonstrated by this great natural dye tutorial from Glitter Guide) but tons of fruits, vegetables - even acorns! - can dye fabric and I can't wait to start experimenting.  There are great resources out there to get started, like this handy guide.     

Try... Capitalizing on Sunny Days with Sun Print Dye Fabric

You need sun, a cyanotype kit, and some pretty leaves and flowers to make your own sun printed fabric with a botanical print (check out this great tutorial from Apartment Therapy).  This was definitely on my summer diy to-do list but I ran out of time so I'm flagging this tutorial and looking forward to long, sunny summer days when I can give it a go!

Try... Taking a Stab at Wax Resist / Batik Dyeing

This might be the longest "been meaning to try this but just haven't" diy dye project for me!  I've wanted to do something like this since seeing kekfestes (the centuries old Hungarian twist on batik dyeing with Indigo dyes) in Hungary way back in the early 2000s during my first trip to Hungary.  This tutorial from A Beautiful Mess is such a pretty, modern spin - and an easy, DIY-able take - on a technique that's thousands of years old.  You just need a simple wax resist crayon like this one.  And this tutorial has tons of tips and tricks too.  A must-try for me - got to finally do this during my winter craft-a-thon.  

Try... Making Those Shoes New Again by Dyeing the Leather

Whoa!  This was news to me: you can dye leather!  I've seen DIY dyed leather boots, a leather sofa refreshed with leather dye and now this gorgeous shoe makeover from Paper & Stitch.  Who else is ready to raid their shoe closet for a DIY shoe dye party?

Yup, you can pretty much dye anything!

Nothing is safe, once you're bitten by the DIY dye bug.  Hopefully this round up of 20 modern DIY dye crafts has inspired you - have I missed a great tutorial?

Let me know in the comments!

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DIY Ice Dye Pillows (Blue Pillows for the Sailboat)

We (finally) launched our sailboat on Sunday!  We haven't sailed it home yet, but we're almost ready for the five hour journey.  This week I'll be sharing a tour of the updates I've made to the interior of our boat - which includes these beautiful DIY ice dye pillows:

You might have already caught a glimpse of my ice dyed pillows - and the new blue boat upholstery - on Instagram.

I wanted to make a bunch of cushy, cozy pillows to make the cabin more comfy, but also for overnight sailing trips - our boat sleeps 6!  I didn't want to have to store sleeping pillows, so I figured I'd make them pretty and then they wouldn't need to be stashed.  I was tempted by shibori, but after my fun foray into ice dyeing I decided that inky blue ice dyed pillows would look perfect in the boat - and pair well with the Loft Indigo upholstery fabric I chose.

For anyone who missed my ice dye tutorial, the steps are SO simple but, after a little experimenting, I have a few more tips to share!

Supplies:

• White fabric (I used a linen/cotton blend)
• Cookie cooling rack
• Wash basin/bin large enough to fit cooling racks (I used my laundry sink)
• Empty water bottles or cans (to prop up rack - optional)
• Bucket (with liter or gallon measurements is ideal)
• Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dye (I used "blueberry")
• Soda Ash
• Rubber gloves
• Dust mask 
• Measuring cup
• Disposable spoon
• Stir stick

How to Ice Dye:

Just like last time, I laundered my fabric and then let it soak in soda ash for half an hour (1 cup of soda ash per 4 liters of water - which is why a bucket with measurements marked on it is handy).  Gloves and a dust mask are important because that soda ash is really dusty.  Last time I used a bin to dye, but this time I worked right in my (already dyed) laundry tub because I had a lot of fabric to wrangle.  Once the fabric had soaked, I wrung it out and then I twisted, scrunched and smooshed it before placing it on the cookie sheet rack on the bottom of my laundry sink.

Tip #1: Prop up the cookie rack with something if you think the melted ice might pool beneath it - you want the ice water to flow away from the fabric as it melts, not create a dye bath for the ice to sit in.  In this case, it went right down the drain, but when I used a smaller basin to ice dye, I propped the rack up really high.  

Tip #2: The taller the fabric heap, the whiter the bottom layers will remain, the flatter the fabric heap, the more evenly distributed the dye will be.

With the fabric arranged, I covered it in ice and, wearing a dust mask and rubber gloves again, sprinkled on my powdered dye with a plastic spoon.  Then all I had to do was wait for the ice to melt, rinse the fabric in cool water until the water ran clear, and then launder with like colors! 

Tip #3: Any place the dye hits the fabric directly, instead of landing on the ice, first, the dye will be more concentrated and although the dye will blur a bit, the end result will be quite different - see those specks?

Tip #4: Try ice dyeing with a single color first.  After my last ice dye project, I realized that I liked the single color ice dyed napkins I made the best:

So for this project I tried a single color and was pleasantly surprised when another color popped up in the dyeing process.  If you're new to ice dyeing, I recommend starting with one color and then experimenting with adding different colors once you know how they'll turn out.

Tip #5: Although I liked my ice dyed napkins, I realized that working with one large piece of fabric produced way more interesting results that dyeing a small batch of napkins.  With one large piece of fabric, I could really twist and scrunch and ended up with really dark areas (the top) and really light areas (the bottom), whereas with the smaller napkins the dye was more uniform.  The pattern was just more interesting and varied this time around!

Here's a look at the finished fabric, after I rinsed, laundered and dried it:



There is so much variation in the color and design!  It looks like I'm staring into the depths of Lake Superior at dusk... 

The small waves of pink are actually a happy accident!

With procion dyes, I have learned to be surprised by the colors that pop out - in my ice dyeing this time around, some pink popped up in my blueberry dye, which is serendipitous because I was actually thinking about adding some blush pink to our sailboat interior - I loved Emily Henderson's living room, when it had a pretty navy and soft pink palette:

But I vetoed pink, thinking it wasn't "nautical" enough - but then the pink found its way to me! 

For the backs of my ice dyed pillows, I was lucky enough to find a warm beige and a purple-tinged grey linen.  I bought all of my fabrics from a (new) local fabric shop and the selection was limited but I found what I wanted!  The beige backs really tie together the blue upholstery with the beige boat interior.

For the pillow inserts, I was originally thinking about down because, in my limited experience, I found that synthetic pillow inserts don't keep their shape; after buying one or two synthetic pillow forms, I just always stuck with dependable down.  When I started chatting with Ronco Furniture about collaborating, their down department cautioned against the use of down on a sailboat, citing mold and dampness as major concerns.  To be honest, I hadn't even thought about that, so I'm really grateful for their expertise!  Instead of down, they recommended something called "angel hair".  They generously sent me 10 pillow forms in the sizes I needed (four 16"x16", two 18"x18", two 20"x20", two 22"x22"), and stuffed them 10% more than their standard - because I routinely buy a pillow form a size or two larger for an extra firm pillow, stuffed to the gills.

When the pillows arrived, I was really surprised by the weight of them - they feel much like a densely packed down pillow.  They are so comfy and they really fill the pillows our beautifully - I can even karate chop them (down on the left, angel hair on the right)!

I am so impressed with Ronco Furniture, and the fact that these pillow forms are manufactured in the United States, that I asked them to send over a little baggie of each kind of pillow form stuffing they use and sit down (pun not intended) for a Q&A about pillow forms - because I, for one, have a lot to learn!  I'm excited to show you the guts of throw pillows and help explain which fill is best for which application.  Look for that post soon, and let me know if you have any questions for the pros!  

Come back tomorrow because I'll be sharing a step-by-step tutorial for sewing a pillow with a flapped zipper.  If you've never sewn a pillow, but always wanted to try, you won't want to miss it!

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