How to dye crocheted lace/doilies. Tutorial.

Dying fabric can be quite a daunting idea if you haven't given it a whirl before.  I decided to bite the bullet & dye some doilies for my daughters birthday party.  It was actually a very simple, pain-free experience so I'd encourage you to give it a go too!

Purple was the colour of choice so I purchased a box of Rit from the local fabric store.  I was decorating milk bottles so cut the crocheted lace a little bit longer than what was need to go around them (ie allowed for a little shrinkage).

There are really good instructions in the box - sumarised here. First I soaked by lace in hot water to make them more receptive to the dye.

I half-filled an ice-cream container with hot water & added some powder dye. I didn't want  a really vibrant or dark colour so we only added a little bit of colour.

 Stir the dye until it dissolves (just like you do with jelly!)

 Add your lace / doilies to the dye ...

 And stir.  I stirred them for about 5mins.  You can leave them but I wanted to try for an even colouring & I wanted to make sure they didn't take on too much colour & become too dark.  Check the colour by lifting out of the water.  The colour will darken once dried.

 Rinse under warm water, slowly cooling to cold water, until the water runs clear.

Next I stuck them in the dryer for a quick dry - because I'm impatient!  You could line dry to avoid shrinkage though.

We LOVE how the colour turned out ...

Need doilies to dye?  Little Tee Tee stocks a large selection of pretty doilies to play with HERE.