Dyeing silk shirt gives it a new life

I like the idea of dye, of dipping white fabric into a liquid that will turn the cloth a different color. But I am leery of pots filled with pigment boiling on the back of the stove, of pouring packets of dye into the washing machine where residue may bleed into some favorite white item I want to remain white. Dyeing is a bubble-bubble sort of endeavor. What I fear is the toil and trouble.

I also like the idea of silk.

Not so long ago dye and silk crossed in my mind. This came about when I saw an ad in a magazine for a company that sells silk fabric and ready-made items of silk for fiber artists to mess around with, using painting, tie-dye, batik and other techniques.

I ordered a lavishly fringed silk shawl and a few scarves. I was so happy with the merchandise I received, I wasn’t at all certain I wanted to immerse them in dye and risk clouding them with some color faux pas that would muddy my happiness.

But still the idea of dyeing silk persisted.

Dyeing fabric is an art – as those who practice it will tell you. I read a few articles about dyeing and learned that it is an ancient art and produces dazzling results in the hands of the skilled; novices, too, can enjoy the process and get good results. Still, I couldn’t make up my mind to dip anything into dye.

Then, I came across an off-white, long-sleeved silk shirt that had hung around in my closet for more years than I care to say. I didn’t wear it often because I didn’t like the pocket flaps and something about the way it was made with no collar and a V-neckline reminded me of a 1950s-era baseball jersey. The shirt seemed a likely candidate for an experiment with dyeing silk. If I ruined it, it really wouldn’t matter.

First, I removed the pocket flaps, taking care not to slash the underlying fabric, and right away the shirt looked better.

I decided to go the washing machine route and bought a package of royal blue dye at the local supermarket.

I used only half the package to see what that would do, and set the washing machine water level on low. I threw the shirt in, crossed my fingers and went back upstairs to watch with my 9-year-old grandson “Land of the Lost” – a TV series that aired 1974-77 and is now on DVD.

Thirty minutes later, after Holly had dragged Marshall back to the cave in a close encounter with exploding crystals, and Will had eluded – yet again – Grumpy, a dinosaur with nothing but prey on its pea-sized brain, I retrieved the silk shirt from the washing machine.

I was delighted with the new color the dye had given it. Rather than the deep blue I had expected, it was the mid-blue of the sky on a fine winter day when the cold has moderated for a spring thaw.

Several days later, after the shirt was dry and ironed, I hand-stitched a length of white antique lace around the neckline. I cut off the old buttons and replaced them with off-white ones shaped like flowers. Now the blouse looks more like one my grandmother might have worn in the 1920s than something you’d see in a locker room.

The whole dye thing was so easy and interesting, I’m thinking about mixing up a few colors to paint on one of my newly acquired silk scarves.

Knitting dilemma: A By Hand column reader has a dilemma she hopes to solve. She writes by e-mail: “A friend of mine is knitting a sweater in the round and has either a circle or a triangle in the center. The question is, how do you do intarsia in the round? You end up with the secondary color bobbin at the left of your work and on a float of more than three or four stitches, you can’t get the bobbin back to the right to continue working in color. The only solution I have found in my myriad of books, is ‘don’t do it,’ or if you do, you have to cut the yarn each time you use the contrasting color.”

Readers who have solutions to this knitting dilemma should e-mail culrich@adelphia.net.

Snippets

Recently, I stumbled across www.burda.com where I found instructions for doing applique using a rubber stamp on fabric and for using rubber stamps and bleach to decorate fabric. The Web site also offers free clothing patterns to download or print and a “sewpedia” that defines more than 300 sewing terms.

Also visit www.kwiksew.com to view patterns and for information about sewing with various fabrics, and sewing and measuring tips.

The Lion Brand yarn Web site, www.LionBrand.com posted a list of its 10 most popular knitting patterns. No. 9 on the list is the prayer shawl pattern. Three of the patterns on the list are sweaters for dogs at numbers 2, 3 and 6.

Www.randomhouse.com/crown/pottercraftnews/ has posted a free knitting pattern for a baby sweater that features an angora bunny in a pocket. It’s adorable.

A By Hand reader from Carmel called with information about a company in Montreal that sells good-quality apparel fabrics. Visit www.wedressamerica.com to learn more.

Ardeana Hamlin may be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.