Because I was completely out of any striped wools to use for a background on a rug hooking project, I decided to try tie dyeing some wool. I tried two different methods of folding the wool to see what I would get that might work well for my hooked rug.
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Tie Dye Wool:
I started out with some solid natural colored wool that had already been felted.
With the first piece, I folded the wool into a fan fold and then used rubber bands every 1-2 inches to hold the folds together.
The second piece of wool was bundled using a tie dye bulls eye method.
Normally, before I dye fabric, I get the entire piece of fabric wet in order to allow the dye to soak in evenly. I decided not to do that this time. I put the wool into the dye pot dry.
With my stainless steel pot (that I use exclusively for dyeing), I dissolved some walnut crystals in a small amount of water. You could also use some other wool dye if you want to make stripes of a different color. I like using Cushings dyes for wool.
After adding the dye and more water to a larger dye pot, I put in my wool. I did have to hold the wool under the water with a spoon to get the air bubbles out of the wool bundles.
I let the wool simmer in the dye bath for about 15 minutes, turning the wool bundles over frequently. Then I stirred in about 1/4 cup of white vinegar to the pot and let it simmer another 10 minutes.
At this point, my dye water had gotten a really light color, so I turned off the heat and let things cool.
After it was cool, I rinsed the wool, removed the rubber bands, rinsed it again, and then hung the wool up to dry.
I did have some spots where the rubber band’s color bled onto the wool so if I did this again, I would purchase some natural colored rubber bands.
Here’s the results: On the left is the fan fold and on the right is the bulls eye.
I really like the way the fan folded wool turned out. I used it for the background on this hooked rug.
I wasn’t as pleased with the bulls eye tie dyed wool. The stripes aren’t consistent all the way around the wool. This could possibly be because of the way I bundled the wool, but I probably won’t try that method again.
You might also like our other wool dye tutorials.
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