Dyeing your own ribbon

For many years when my clothes have started to look a bit shabby, I have popped them in the washing machine with a sachet of machine dye and have been delighted with the results.

I have often looked at black coffee, black tea and beetroot juice and thought I would take the plunge this week and have a go at dyeing ribbons the natural way.  I particularly love beetroot in salads and usually use the juice to make a vinaigrette.  This time I had my eye on the juice for something else….a natural dye!

So I picked a white stitched ribbon from the shelves of the Haberdashery Closet and wanted to see if it worked, and if so what shade of pink I would be left with?

I placed the ribbon in the beetroot juice and left it for about an hour to work its wonders.  I’m sure if I had left it overnight, I would have ended up with a richer shade, however curiosity got the better of me!

I was really pleased with the soft shade of pink that appeared and the vintage tone works so well with lace and delicate papers

When the ribbon has dried you can wind the length of ribbon around a vintage style wooden bobbin and secured with a pin for another day

With wedding season in full force, I decided to wrap a small gift adding pleats in the paper and customising it with lace

If you have any other great ingredients for dyeing fabrics and ribbons please pop a comment below!