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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Silk Wrapped Eggs




You could say I am a queen of unfinished projects. Half crocheted doll dresses, quilt pieces cut but not sewn together, cross stitch still in a hoop..you name it you will find it in my craft room. Including bags and bags of men's ties. I found the cutest pattern one time in a craft magazine using ties to make a skirt. You undid the seams and sewed them side by side then folded the top over and put elastic in the waist. Sounds easy enough and I bought 100s of ties a garage sales over about a year or two. But there they sit in plastic Wal-Mart bags 10-15 years later. Some bags are still at my Mom's house where I lived at the time! Poor Momma :-) Here is a small sampling.



When I saw an interesting egg dying idea using silk fabric on a blog called Our Best Bites, I knew I had to try it if for nothing else but to use up some of my poor forgotten ties! Takes a look at their pictorial and instructions. I picked some brightly colored ones hoping they would result in more colorful eggs. The most important thing is to make sure the ties you choose are silk. It's usually on the tag. (What do you think Chrisian Dior would think about one of his ties being used to dye eggs?)


But, could be on the little tag on the skinny end here



The first step is to disassemble the tie. Most come apart with minimal effort.



Once apart you will have to cut the little piece of lining at the point away as well. Then cut a piece just big enough to gather up around an egg and tie with a string. I was able to get two such pieces out of each tie. The right side of the fabric goes against the egg. I tied them up with yarn.


Aren't they cute in their little covers?



After this you wrap them each with a light colored piece of material. I cut up an old pillow case for the cloth. Then put them in a non-aluminum pot, cover with water and pour in 1/4 cup vinegar. Heat on high to boiling, then turn to medium and boil for 20 minutes.



Remove from the heat and drain without unwrapping on paper towels or in a colander. Unwrap when they are cooled. Rub with a couple of drops of cooking oil and shine with a paper towel.




The color wasn't as intense on some as on others. But they all were pretty! The effect was very swirly and tie dyed. I really would love to try more and do better next time..smoothing the fabric a bit more against the egg so the pattern is more consistent.



This one came out pretty neat~


It really is my favorite I think, so it gets two pics on the blog :-)



And this was really brightly colored. I love how the pink paisley came out.


This one had a very "tie-dye" effect


This one reminds me of moorish tiles


I thought the pattern on this one imprinted really well. It was a really ugly tie ...at least in my opinion!


This one had a really cool pattern.


I really had a lot of fun with this project. The hardest part was diassembling the ties! You could do that ahead of time. The dying part is easy and not nearly as messy as the regular kind of egg dipping. One note, I'm not so sure these eggs are safe to eat. The dyes aren't necessarily non-toxic.







Easter Bunny Approved!


21 comments:

Carol said...

Coolest idea yet! They came out great, Suzy! Really neat eggs!

Happy Easter to you, Randy and Jigs!

Sara's Sweet Surprise said...

I've been on a blogging break a medical hiatus. So now...I'm catching up, by enjoying a stroll through the posts I've missed. Luckily I bookmarked you in my favs.
Ever since I saw this on Martha's I've wanted to make them. I'm just not sure our thrift stores will have any silk ties. It make take some hunting to achieve this for next year.
Yours came out amazing...it's just inspired me more.

Come by for a visit, the company would be nice.

Sweet wishes,
Sara

Wanda..... said...

They look like expensive marble or porcelain eggs! Loved them!

A Grain of Salt said...

Wow, Suzy, those are awesome!

Debbie@Mountain Breaths said...

Suzy, I love your "tie" dyed eggs. They are the most awesome eggs I have seen. I'll have to see if Joe has any silk ties he doesn't wear any longer :-) Great job!

Marsha said...

What fun these eggs are! (I bet that skirt would have been pretty darn cool too) I will have to remember to look for silk ties at our thrift stores.

It has been fun catching up on all the posts I've missed...you do such great things ;)

Happy Easter to you, Randy and of course Jiggs...does he get a basket of treats?

Sara said...

Suzy, you won the See's giveaway! Please send me an email (address is in my profile). Thanks!

Carol said...

Congrat's on the win, Suzy :)

Suzy said...

Thanks everybody! These are a lot of fun you gotta try them.

Sara..thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so awesome and generous. Everybody go check out Sara's blog to see what I won!

Foley said...

Suzy - I saw this demo on Martha's last week..you can use any type of silk fabric..ties, scarves etc...yours turned out gorgeous!!
Congrats on winning the See's candies!!! I'm sure Randy is too...

Marjorie Savill Linthwaite said...

Kitchen Bouquet,

Happy Easter,

Amazing patterns on those eggs and so subtle in hues of shading from dyed silk.

Marjorie.

Jennifer said...

You have the best ideas!!!! Those eggs are the best decorated Ive seen!!

Sarah said...

What a wonderful blog and I will definately be doing this next easter!!!

Marigene said...

Beautiful tie-dyed eggs....and to think I got rid of all Howard's ties once he didn't have to wear them to work!

Kathleen said...

WOW< I love those! Please remind us next year..I want to do them!
They came out great!!!

Cynthia said...

Suzy, your eggs are very pretty. I remember seeing Martha demonstrate this technique three or four years ago and thinking how unique the eggs were.

I had to chuckle about your large amount of ties and your intention to make a skirt of a ties. I'm sure lots of us can relate to unfinished projects.

Linda said...

What a lovely blog you have!!! Glad I found you!!

A said...

Wow- I saw Martha Stewart's pictures of silk-dyed eggs and was underwhelmed, but these are gorgeous! The blue and pink paisley one is my favorite. lovely!

Anita said...

Very cute! great idea

Katy said...

What a unique and beautiful way to decorate eggs! Love, love it!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic web site, I had not noticed kitchenbouquet.blogspot.com earlier during my searches!
Carry on the fantastic work!

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