I was gifted Rit black liquid dye and tangerine powder dye in my swag bags. I purchased cotton fabric, beans, latex gloves and a bleach pen.
First, cut your fabric into several medium to large squares. Mine are roughly 2′ square. Keep in mind that you will be washing your fabric after you dye it, so there may be some shrinkage and/or fraying.
This was my dye setup. I grabbed my big orange bucket from Home Depot and went to work, first on the orange, then on the black. Latex gloves are essential. Just follow the directions on the package.
Sidenote: I decided not to let my black fabric soak too long because I was digging the purple hue and thought that would make for a cute pumpkin. Turns out I was right, but you can totally do black pumpkins if you want!
After my fabric had been dyed, washed, and dried, I decided to give one of my pumpkins a few polka dots with my bleach pen.
A couple of tips if you go this route: Put something UNDER your fabric so the bleach doesn’t damage your table or work surface. I used an old piece of foam board. Wear your latex gloves and create the circles with your fingers once you apply the bleach. It’s less messy than the pen itself, which has a tendency to smear.
If you use the bleach pen method, hang your fabric to dry for a while until the bleach spots are dry to the touch.
To create the actual pumpkin, first put a good-sized handful of dried beans in the middle of your fabric square.
Add Poly-fil. A pretty sizable amount to make a fat pumpkin.
Now, the trick to tying it – I’m going to refer to the corners as left and right, top and bottom, so I hope this makes sense:
1. Twist the Left and Right corners.
2. Tie a single knot.
3. Twist the Top and Bottom corners. Be sure to fold the fabric to completely cover the Poly-fil.
4. Tie a single knot.
5. Tie the Left and Right corners in another knot.
6. Tie the Top and Bottom corners in another knot. Pull tight to secure.
See? One fat little pumpkin. Now we need to dress it up.
To make a stem, (1) cut a scrap piece of burlap, (2) roll and hot glue as you go, (3) use hot glue to attach it to the top of your pumpkin, then (4) wrap a couple strips of fabric around and secure with hot glue.
Now you just add curly twine or ribbon or whatever and you’re done! Aren’t they too stinkin’ cute?! (Are they to DYE for? HA!) I love them, and now I’m looking for more things to dye.
Have you played with Rit dyes? What did you make? What colors should I get next?!
