Onesies for My Niece Part Dos

I bet you have been wondering about that Kool Aid I mentioned in the materials list of the first post, if so grab it and be prepared to have your mind blown.  You are about to find out how my strange little brain works.

First let me tell you the extras you will need.


plastic bowl or tub (I used a margarine bowl)

vinegar and a big pinch of salt (Yes, I am weird! Thank you for noticing! But it leads to a great side story!  It was pretty late at night when I started my dye process and I vaguely remembered a conversation I once had with my Mimmaw, thats what I call my dad's mom, about dying fabric. I remembered asking her what went wrong when a natural dye I had used washed out completely on the first wash. She asked what I had used as a fixative. I said, "What's that?" so she explained it to me and told me what to use. Back to present It's about 11:30 at night and I am trying to remember what she told me to use, was it vinegar or salt? I couldn't remember and although my Mim stays up pretty late I was afraid to call her and scare her just to ask a silly question so what the heck toss 'em both in couldn't hurt, right?)

2 cups of hot water

A little faith, ok alot we are using Kool Aid after all

First a note on the Kool Aid flavor. I used cherry I was aiming for pink but use whatever flavor will give you the color you desire, just remember it will turn out to be very, VERY light in color when all is said and done.

Ok we're ready. Take your plastic container and mix the Kool Aid, hot water, splash of vinegar, and big pinch of salt together in it.

Looks Really RED, right? Don't worry just trust me! Like I said you need faith.

Submerge your onesie, the best you can and let sit over night. It is ok that not all of the onesie is covered it will give it a cool wave effect, kind of like on a dip dye fabric. You do however need to make sure the whole thing is saturated with the Kool Aid mix. If you use your hands to do this you may want to put on gloves. I tell you this because I didn't and you can guess what my hands looked like, that's right red!

Remember Faith!

Now let it sit this way for at least 8 hours or overnight. I tried less time and it just washed out completely. If you have any tweaks that work for you please let me know! I'd love to hear them!

After it has sat in the dye bath remove, wring out excess liquid (with gloves, wink wink) and let it air dry. I was planning on putting it in the dryer but I was afraid it might dye the inside of the dryer and since I rent I don't think my landlord would appreciate it even though she is a very cool lady.

I put an old wash cloth underneath to protect my chair, worked like a charm.

All dry!

Now toss in the washer! I washed it with cold water on the longest wash setting.

Ready for the next step.

Ok from the first list of materials grab:

embroidery floss (I used hot pink and lime green, I am not really sure of the DMC numbers since most of my embroidery floss came in a fish bowl I bought at a yard sale, he, he.)

Crochet Hook (Once again I think I used a size 0 but you use whatever gives you the size object you want.)

Scissors

Black Fabric Marker

Cardboard Scrap

Needle with a fairly large eye



Place the cardboard scrap inside the onesie as before positioning it all the way up so it covers the neck and chest area (see above pic).

Take the fabric marker and begin making dots in an arc around the neck hole. You are essentially drawing a necklace. If you need help with placement take a piece of string and position it to use as a guide for where to put your dots, see below.

String guide line.

Long necklace.

Now take out your embroidery floss, crochet hook, and flower pattern of your choice. I used a forget-me-not pattern I got out of the book Crochet Inspiration by Sasha Kagan. If you want the pattern I will be glad to send it to you but if you have the chance to get the book it is great!  I checked it out at the library and I liked it so much I may just buy a copy.

Crochet the flower leaving a long tail, you will be using this to attach the flower to the onesie. Stitch the flower off center to the dot necklace using the large eyed needle.

Almost Finished!

After I got my flower sewed on I decided it needed a little something extra so I added a shorter necklace just above the first one and Ta Da we're done!

A cute onesie for a very cute girl!