Dying playsilks

Several years ago, we bought the kids playsilks for Christmas. They have been used to play pirates, doctor, picnic, forts, dogs, babies, etc. My youngest daughter has many different ways to feel like she has long, flowing hair, but this is one of them:

So the playsilks have been used heavily and after several years, several were worn out. Over time I had forgotten how very much I had paid for those original playsilks. My husband and I did some looking to see if we could make our own. We found some links about dying playsilks with Kool-Aid:

http://www.valleywaldorf.org/adventures-waldorf-toy-making-dying-play-silks-kool-aid/

http://www.artfulparent.com/2008/03/dyeing-playsilks-with-kool-aid.html

I ended up using suggestions from both of the above links. Here is what we did:

We bought 35" x 35" scarves , 3 packages of Kool-Aid for every color scarf we wished to make, and a jug of white vinegar.

I filled a large stock pot halfway with water and put it on the stove to boil. Once it was boiling hot, I turned off the heat, added 1/2 cup vinegar, and my three white scarves. I let this sit for about 30 minutes.

In another stockpot, I brought two quarts of water to a boil. I then added 1/2 cup vinegar and 3 packages of Kool-Aid. Then I added one of the scarves that had been soaking in the hot vinegar water. At this point, the kids stirred the scarf around in the colored water for 5 minutes.

We poured the Kool-Aid water and the scarf into the colander and rinsed until the water ran clear.

The scarf then went into the dryer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Once I rinsed the first scarf, I refilled the stockpot and got it on the stove to begin the next scarf. It took us about 45 minutes to dye, rinse, dry and iron the three scarves. With a helper working on each stage of the process, everyone always had something to do and we were able to move right along. This is how they turned out:

We are really pleased with the results. We have already ordered more scarves so that we can try some new colors.