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Today’s post is brought to you by the talented Benetta Strydom for favecrafts.com! This glorious, vintage craft is bursting with stunning, bright colors that will look absolutely awesome spread out on your table. You’ll love this DIY tablecloth that will get you ready for fall in style. It doesn’t get much groovier than this tie dye tablecloth. Personally, I think tie dye is one of the coolest ways to craft, and I wish I did it more often. Fall is my favorite time of year, so this tablecloth design automatically has a special place in my heart.

Here’s what the designer has to say about this project – “Tie and die became popular in the States during the 1960’s, where it was used to add colorful designs to a wide range of garments. Throughout the years, it often disappeared and reappeared on the craft scene. Currently, it is making a huge comeback again, but the focus is no more only on clothing items.”

Materials:

• 140mm x 200mm unbleached linen
• One spool of matching thread
• Tingecor Guarany orange fabric dye powder
• Acrilex burnt soil fabric paint
• Meyco stencil of vine leaves
• A few small sponges ~ use those that were inside medicine bottles
• Thin string
• Old sheet to protect the working surface when stenciling
• 2 cups of salt
• Pair of rubber gloves
• Standard scissors
• Sewing machine
• Iron and ironing board
• Stainless steel pot
• Dressmaker’s marking pencil

How to Tie Dye a Tablecloth

1. Wash the linen and rinse it thoroughly in cold water to remove any sizing agent from the material. Note: Do not add fabric softener when rinsing the linen.
2. Allow the linen to dry and iron it thoroughly before continuing with the next step.
3. Cut off the linen’s selvage, and sew a double fold hem all around the linen. This will prevent the table cloth from fraying.
4. Iron the hem of the table cloth before preparing the table cloth for tie dying.
5. Prepare the table cloth for the tie dying:
   1. Lay the table cloth out flat on a surface. Pinch a section of the table cloth between your fingers. Poke it up and tightly tie the string around the bottom of the pinched section. Then tie string all over the pinched section in a random manner and make a secure knot to keep it in place. For this project, it is better to use thin string to create a softer background for the stenciling.
   2. Repeat until the whole table cloth has been pinched and tied with string.
      
   3. Now you are ready to color the table cloth!
6. Dissolve the orange dye powder and two cups of salt in a liter of boiling water.
7. Once the powder and salt have dissolved, add more water to the pot. The pot should have enough water
   to completely cover the table cloth. For a deeper orange, you might need two bottles of dye powder.
8. Bring the colored water to a boil.
9. Wet the table cloth in cold water, and then add it to the pot with the boiling dye solution.
10. Keep boiling the pot on the stove for 30 minutes. Stir the pot regularly to make sure that the table cloth gets dyed on all sides.
    1. Note: Wear rubber gloves when following this step. Take the table cloth out of the pot and rinse it in your sink with cold water to remove any excess dye. Keep rinsing until the water is clean and then gently cut off the strings.
11. Hang the table cloth in a shady area, or toss it into the tumble dryer.
12. Iron the table cloth thoroughly before continuing with the next step. It will require a lot of ironing to get rid of all the creases.
13. Add the stenciled design:
    1. Cover the working surface with an old sheet and then put the table cloth flat on the working surface.
    2. Divide the table cloth in four equal parts. Measure the length of the stencil design and use the dressmaker’s pencil to mark where the stencil should be placed.
    3. Position the stencil on the table cloth. Note: Use a few heavy objects to keep the stencil in place while painting.
    4.  Use the burnt soil fabric paint and a sponge to add the first vine leaves to the table cloth.
    5. Carefully lift the stencil and move it to the next position. Weigh the stencil down again before adding another set of vine leaves with the paint and the sponge.
    6. Keep adding vine leaves in the same manner. In total, the design was repeated twelve times, 3 times in each quarter. Use a new sponge if the previous one becomes too dirty.
14.  Allow to dry flat for 24 hours.

Don’t stop there. You’re also going to love 100+ Tie Dye Patterns and Techniques.

What’s your favorite fall activity?