Tea-Dyed Shamrocks

My Shamrock Sampler is complete. I used a beautiful green over dyed silk. For the red/brown color I used 2 different silks randomly to create the illusion of an over dye. The top is mostly the lighter color and the bottom is mostly the darker color.

To make the sampler look more faded and older, I wanted to tea dye it. Unfortunately, I didn't know what to expect from the silks. The green specifically stated that it might not be colorfast and I had no idea about the reds.

So, I staged a test. I wet a paper towel and rolled in some snippets of each thread. No bleeding of the color! Next, I poured on some tea and still no bleeding!

So, I dribbled tea all over the sampler, more on the bottom then the top and hoped. The silks still didn't bleed! I love the antique look. I wonder how it will fade over time.

At the same time I got the chart, years ago, a friend inherited a bag of tie scraps and I took some to make a backing for the sampler. Luckily they were still in the bag with sampler.

Since I had the nice backing I wanted to finish it extra nicely. Thus my first piped pillow. I was intimidated so I found this online tutorial and discovered that the piping is easier than I thought (and looks better!)

I think all my pillows will be piped from now on.

I'm sorry this sampler took so long to complete but I'm glad it's done. It was inspirational staring at "My Life be Grand to You" the whole time I was stitching it.

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Erica's Stitches

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