A little experiment...or, the fun things you can do with Kool-aid!

A little experiment
Originally uploaded by li'l miss muffett

I love to dye things. It's just so darn fun...

So, I did a little experiment the other day. Now, dyeing with Kool-aid is way cool because you don't have to worry about wearing layers of protective gear or worry that your childrens' hair will fall out or their fingers will fall off.

I've dyed wool yarn with Kool-aid and it really comes out beautiful! Nylon can be dyed in this way also and I've seen several Etsy sellers that dye vintage slips or girdles, etc. and it looks soooo GOOD!

Anyhoo, I pulled out a scrap of white nylon tricot (the kind used for slips, panties and bras) that was about the size of an average pair of panties and cut about a yard of white stretch lace. This will kinda give you a reference for how much dye is needed for your fabric/lace/undies.

Here's how it went if you want to try it:

The first go around, I filled a large saucepan with water and brought it to a boil. I dunked in the nylon and lace and then sprinkled the Kool-aid on top (my mistake, apparently) and stirred and squished it with a potato masher until the water started to look clear, water simmering all the while. Then I removed the fabric and lace, rinsed till the water ran clear, and hung them up to dry. By doing it this way I came up with a really groovy tie-dyed effect. Although it was really pretty, it wasn't quite what I was going for. So I started another pot of water and this time added the Kool-aid first. This produced a much more uniform spread of color but still a little tie-dyeish. This could be due to the fact that it was swirly to begin with.

The color is really hard for the camera to pick up but it's a really pretty pinky-purple with swirls of blue. The lace picked up the colors differently as you can see in the picture. Some parts took more of the Kool-aid's blue dye and others took more of the pink.

My next color was going to be cherry red but a certain munchkin living in my house made it in to an actual drink. Dammit!

This is a very "KOOL" experiment to do with you kids too!
Have fun!

EDIT: After posting this I found out that you don't have to boil the fabric and in fact it's not too nice on the elastic in the lace. Instead bring your water to a simmer and then turn off the heat. Add the kool aid, stir, then add the fabric. Continue to stir/mash until the water is clear or you get the color desired!