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For these examples, we mordanted our silk, then let it dry before doing our designs, but you can apply the shibori before or after mordanting.
 
To learn more about nui (stitched) shibori, check out our blog post

Step 1

nui shibori natural dye kit

Gather your materials

1 silk scarf
+
strong upholstery thread (preferably white/uncolored)
+
1 hand sewing needle

Step 2

running stitch natural dye kit shibori

For this exercise, we highly recommend doubling over your thread before stitching; it will make binding off much easier at the end.

Stitch your design using a simple running stitch.

stitches natural dye kit

You can play around with the size of your stitches. The stitches on the left are a little bigger and farther apart, and the stitches on the right are smaller and closer together.

Step 3

pull thread shibori natural dye kits

Pull your thread super taught. It's the scrunching of the fabric (not the thread) that creates the resist, so it's important that your scrunching and your knot are as tight as possible.

When you have multiple rows of stitches like we do, stitch all of your lines then go through one-by-one and pull them taught. This is way easier than trying to sew scrunched up fabric.

Step 4

tie knot natural dye kits

Take the two legs of your thread from each stitch row, and tie them in a tight knot as close to the fabric as possible. If your knot is loose from the fabric, the scrunches and folds will be loose and won't create a crisp design.

This step is why we recommend doubling over your thread - it's easier to tie a tight knot with the two legs.

Step 5

 tied shibori natural dye kit

Pre-wet your bundle, then add it to your dye bath.

Step 6

final result cutch natural dye kit

 Voilá! Another beautiful one-of-a-kind silk scarf dyed in our Cutch Natural Dye Kit. You can see the difference in pattern between the two stitch lengths. The stripe on the left is from our longer, wider stitches, and the stripe on the right is from our smaller, tighter stitches.


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