Silk Ribbon Dyeing

I've been doing a lot of silk ribbon embroidery lately and have noticed that silk ribbon is getting difficult to find in my area. The other day I bought every package that Hobby Lobby had, and Jo-Ann didn't have any at all. Maybe silk ribbon embroidery is not in vogue at the moment?

So I had the bright idea of buying white silk ribbon in bulk from Dharma Trading and dyeing it myself. Three spools arrived today (4mm, 7mm, and 13mm), and I dyed eight lots of 3-yard lengths. I have silk dye, but I decided to use Setacolor fabric paint (which is a form of dye). After using a tiny amount of the Setacolor full strength on the cut ribbon pieces, I soaked them in white vinegar, rinsed in cold water, and ironed dry.

The cool thing is, I can now have ribbon in colors I've never been able to find in stores -- gray, brown, and black, and I can make variegated ribbon in any color array I want.

Here's a photo of the ribbon I dyed today. I made variegated blue/magenta, bright aqua, melon orange, black, variegated green, brown, gray, and medium blue.

I can't wait to try other color combinations! I have a ribbon embroidery project in the works for an upcoming podcast, and I'll also provide a tutorial on dying your own silk ribbon in case you, like me, can't find ribbon in your area.

Meanwhile, if you want to buy plain white ribbon, CLICK HERE to go to the silk ribbon page on Dharma Trading's site. I've ordered from them for years, and they have wonderful products, fair prices, speedy delivery, and excellent customer service!

'thann