Overdye Floss with a CrockPot

Did you know that it’s very easy to overdye your own threads?

Doing this can soften bright colors, darken threads, or even add additional colors. The results you get will always be a surprise and can be quite delightful.

It’s easy to do. All you need is an old CrockPot (one you NEVER, EVER use for food), skeins of cotton floss in various light and medium colors, and commercial dyes such as RIT or Dylon.

Buy your CrockPot from a thrift shop. I paid about $7 for mine. Use thread from your stash or buy it on sale. You’ll find RIT or Dylon at grocery stores, fabric stores, and chain craft stores.

You could also use Kool-aid if you were using wool instead of cotton.

Some natural products, such as tea, will also work.

The process is both simple and quick. The illustrated tutorial from Ginger takes you through step-by-step.

Update of dye color choices: You may be wondering if any color of dye works for any color of thread. Here’s my bacjk-of-the-envelope guide to picking dye shades for this project:

• Black & very dark colors:avoid using these unless you use very tiny amounts. They will dye your threads mostly black
• Tan & medium-to-light neutrals (including light yellow):softens colors
• Colors:will intensify the color and adjacent colors but will mute complement, turning it more brown. Colors adjacent to the complement will be muted to a lesser extent