Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid

 

Purples in general, are some of my favorite colors and the color orchid is really lovely. I would like to show you how to dye some wool blend felt with Kool-Aid today.

I’m going to be the first to admit that it’s a little embarrassing to go through the check out stand with the amount Kool-Aid that I buy these days. I really just want to tell the checker, “It’s not for drinking, I promise!” But Kool-Aid makes a surprisingly fantastic dye for protein fibers!

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

One of the great things about Kool-Aid is that it’s “food-safe”. By that I mean that you can use the same pots for dyeing with Kool-Aid that you cook in. Some people will say that you shouldn’t because of what might be in the wool, but you’re washing the wool quite thoroughly and I think it’s ok. Personally, I’m more afraid of what’s in the Kool-Aid.

And contrary to popular belief, the colors you can get do not have to be limited to bright, garish candy colors. Dye Your Yarn is a website devoted to dyeing with food dyes- including Kool-Aid. They even have a page with a bunch of color mixing formulas using Kool-Aid. Today, we’re going to use one of these formulas to create a lovely orchid color. {Please note that the Dye Your Yarn website has since gone away. I’ve inserted links to the pages with the WayBack machine. I hope they will stay up!! Here’s the WayBack Machine link}

Materials:
2 9×12 sheets of wool blend felt
vinegar
2 big pots for soaking and dyeing
1 packet Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-Aid
1 packet Grape Kool-Aid
Large metal spoon or tongs

First, purchase your wool felt. I wanted to show you how to dye the 20% wool 80% rayon that they sell at JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store, so that is what I purchased. You could also purchase the 100% wool felt, but it does need a little extra felting, in my opinion, so that is a post for another day.
Synthetic felt generally comes in 9×12 sheets, so that is what I generally use as my base size for dyeing. Wool does shrink though, so you will get smaller sheets.
Purchase at least 12 inches of wool felt. You can totally get more and dye all sorts of colors too.

Cut your wool into 9×12 sheets and then wash it. Set your washer on cold/cold and put the wool in after it’s filled. Add just a quick squeeze of dishsoap. I find Dawn to be the best, but you can use pretty much any dishsoap. Let the washer go through it’s cycle. Let the wool air dry or go right on to the next step.

Ok, now we get to the fun part!!

Before the fabric is dyed, it needs to be thoroughly wet. To do this, put it in a pot full of warm or lukewarm water. Make sure the wool is submerged. Add a splash of vinegar and mix it all around. When I have a lot of wool, I’ll put a plate in the pot that just fits, keeping everything under the water. Another tip is to squeeze the wool gently to make sure water gets all the way inside. You can tell the spots that aren’t thoroughly wet because they will still look dry when the surrounding areas are wet.
There’s not a specific amount of time that the wool needs to be soaked.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Get your dyeing pot a-boiling. We’re just going to dye 2 sheets here today, so you’ll only need a pot like this to be about half full. You want just enough room for the wool to move around. The water actually does not need to be boiling, just really close. In fact, when the water does boil, it needs to be shut off.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Now make your dye. Basically, 1 packet of dye equals 1 sheet of wool felt. This dye recipe calls for 2 packets of Kool-Aid, so we’ll be dyeing 2 sheets of wool felt.
In a glass jar, mix 1 packet of Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-Aid, 1 packet of Grape Kool-Aid and about 1/4 c vinegar. I like to use vinegar with Kool-Aid because I feel it dissolves a lot better. You could actually use hot water too because the Kool-Aid packets have enough acid in them already.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Stir well until all the granules are dissolved.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Pour the dye mixture into your very hot pot of water and give it a good stir. When the water is almost boiling, turn the heat off.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Now it’s time to add the felt. You can wring the felt out a little bit, but mostly, you just want to put it gently into the dye pot. Stir it all around to make sure that the dye will get into all the folds of the fabric.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

And let it sit. Come back every now and then to stir some more for a more even dye job, but that’s it for a while. Let it sit until the water is cool enough to touch. You can let it sit even longer though if you want.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

When it’s cool, dump the dye pot into the sink and let the water drain.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Rinse the wool with water the same temperature as the water you just dumped out. Warm or lukewarm water is good. Rinse it until it runs clear.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Now wring gently (the more agitation it gets, the more it could felt and shrink) and let it hang dry.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Once it’s dry you’ll be able to see it’s true color! Give it a good ironing and then it’s ready for crafting!!

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

Now try some other Kool-Aid color combinations.

Tutorial: Dye Wool Felt With Kool-Aid with Muse of the Morning

What do you do with felt? I have a whole bunch of Pinterest boards where I collect felt ideas- check them out! What’s your favorite felt craft? What sort of colors do you see yourself creating?

If you’re looking for felt, but don’t want to dye it yourself, check out my etsy shopp with lots of hand dyed wool felt!!

This post was published on Muse of the Morning.com

**This post was sponsored by JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores, but all opinions are my own. See my full disclosure statement here.
** Also linked up to Make It And Love It’s Weekly link up.

4 Comments

  1. I was so happy to find your blog! I am a veteran homeschool mom and am now teaching a little sewing class to girls. I ran across your little sewing embroidery booklet that I was wondering if I could print out to hand out to my little girls to use in their embroidery work? Please let me know as soon as possible, my class starts Tuesday!
    Thanks,
    Carol

    • Surprisingly, the Kool-Aid smell goes away during the rinse. It’s really fun to use. And yes, all those generations raised on Kool-Aid, with our insides stained bright red and cotton candy blue!!
      Thanks for stopping by Deanna!
      Chrissy

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