Aunt Lydia's bummer....

[breeze530]

I was in the hospital a few months ago & started a lovely (once in a lifetime maybe) thread bedspread. Unfortunately, I started it with A.L.'s thread that I've recently found out is no longer available. It was called "Special Value." I found what I thought was the same thread at JoAnns & ordered it. It turned out to be Classic Crochet Thread. It looked to be the same thread, but the color natural was off.

 

Anyway, after over a month of hunting & searching I finally got the bright idea to call Coats. It is the same thread, only labelled differently & isn't dye-lotted. But was previously made in Brazil & now is made in Hungary! I was about 1/3 of the way thru with the spread in the old color which, in the light, has a slight pinkish cast. The new thread is all (& I've been everywhere now) a real ecru shade with no pink tint.

 

I don't know what I'm going to do. The spread is made of squares that I've solidly sewn together. They are join as you go motifs. I was wondering if there is some way to dye the whole thing if I finish it with the new thread. What about tea staining? I've never tried that. I'd be very grateful for any ideas at this point. I hate to just give up on the project, but seem to be limited to what I can do with it.

 

BTW, I've known for decades to buy all the thread at one time, but I just couldn't afford to do it & didn't have any idea how much I would need.

Thanks!

Bev

[Elle]

I bought a really huge lot of thread a few months ago on Ebay, there are 70 rolls in the lot. The entire lot is white and ecru, and it seems like every roll in the lot is a different shade. I never knew there were so many different shades of ecru!

 

When I saw that none of them were the same color, I decided that whatever I ended up making with them would get dyed as soon as it was finished. I don't know how a light color would do, depending on how pronounced the difference is in the shades of ecru, but darker colors should take fairly evenly, and the tea staining might be the best option of all.

 

Elle

[breeze530]

Elle,

Thanks for your post. Actually, this thread is named "Natural," but it looks ecru to me. Yes, I'm thinking tea staining is probably it. Now I have to hunt up some info on the process. I have an all white cat & just couldn't have a dark bedspread.

Bev

[hooked2]

Breeze,

 

I did a tea dyeing project a long time ago but I remember that it was incredibly easy and gave me a very nice result. But in the interest of "what's a good 2007 technique", I Googled and found quite a few hits when I entered "dyeing + tea"; this one and this one. (The second site recommended Rit dye for longevity.)

 

There were many more hits when I Googled. I'm sure you' ll find the info you need.

[Granny Square]

Since you're working with cotton I would think you would be able to dye it. For some reason I can't get into the Rit website, but I think they have a product that removes exisitng dye...you might consider doing that to start with a clean slate before re-dying.

[Verany]

I agree, I have dyed cotton before and have tried dying it straight out and removing the previous dye, it works much better if you use the dye remover.

[beth eathorne]

that idea about removing the dye before you start and can have a clean slate sounds great to me. that way the color will be uniform thru out the piece.

[breeze530]

Breeze,

 

I did a tea dyeing project a long time ago but I remember that it was incredibly easy and gave me a very nice result. But in the interest of "what's a good 2007 technique", I Googled and found quite a few hits when I entered "dyeing + tea"; this one and this one. (The second site recommended Rit dye for longevity.)

 

There were many more hits when I Googled. I'm sure you' ll find the info you need.

 

Thanks so much!!! I'm certainly gonna check them out. I'm really hooked on this spread & don't wanna have to just trash it. This gives me a place to start.

[breeze530]

Thanks everyone who responded about the dye & dye remover. I'm certainly gonna check that out. What a great group we have here!!!