Our playsilks have been looking a little, well, used... I recently learned that you can re-dye them! I'm sure that sound like plain old common sense to most people, but it had never occured to me. I also found out that you can dye them using paste food coloring. Another "how come I never thought of that?" moment. I have tons of paste food coloring from all my cake decorating adventures.
All you need is a stove, a pan, water, vinegar, food coloring, and silk.
You can buy white silk scarves, ready to dye, here: http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1741-AA.shtml?lnav=scarves_silk.html . These prices are very low! People pay $7 to $10 per scarf to buy them already dyed.
I filled the pan about half full of water and mixed in the food coloring. I just guessed on the amounts, and I mixed oranges, reds, yellows, and browns to get the fall hues I was after. It's a bit of a crapshoot with the colors, but that's half the fun. And besides, if you don't like how it turns out, you can always do it again.
I brought the colored water to a boil, then added the piece of silk. When it returned to a rolling boil, I added 1/4 c. of vinegar. The instructions I'd read said to stir the whole thing constantly until all the color was absorbed out of the water and into the cloth. But I got antsy, so I only left the silk in there for about 3 minutes.
Then, I poured the contents of the pan into a colander in the sink. I thoroughly drained and rinsed the silk in cold water.
And hung everything up to dry. They look as good as new! When they are all dry, I'll run them through a cycle in the washer (on gentle, cold water) to make sure all the dye is set. Just be careful when washing--you can wash them all together, but if they sit in the washer when the cycle is finished, the colors will bleed into each other, so remove them immediately or wash them separately.
Of course there are a few casualties of a project like this. (If you rub your head into a wet silk, it's gonna turn colors!) But we had a blast! Sariah had SO much fun doing this, and insisted on the obligatory pink. So we took a scarf that was already pink and dyed it pink again. Doing this together was such a bonding experience, I actually felt sad that Dallin had to miss it. As much as I was ready for school to start, I already feel like my time with him is compromised. There is so much room for contention when we're rushing to get someplace in the morning and trying to squeeze all these "important" things into the afternoon. Sariah and I, on the other hand, are thoroughly enjoying our leisurely days.
So what can you use playsilks for? Capes, scarves, veils, sashes, baby blankets, table cloths, forts... the list goes on and on. We had cousins over this past Sunday, and every kid had a silk tied onto them in some way. I'm using the fall-colored ones to decorate the nature table we'll be starting toward the end of September when it's officially autumn. It'll be a place to display all the rocks, leaves, acorns, and other collectibles we find.
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