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!