Everyday I am trying to figure out how to let my daughter help me with my work, so that she doesn't think of it as "Mommy's working so she doesn't have time to do stuff with me"... because let's face it, the reason I want to work from home is so that I can spend more time with her!  What good is more time with her if she thinks I am too busy doing other things than to do things with her?  

So, one of the things that she has gotten to start helping me with is dyeing onesies.  I know I know, to some that may just sound like a disaster waiting to happen... but it's not really.  She just gently gets to place the article of clothing or whatever it is that I am dyeing into the dye bath.  It's a very small thing to me, but to her it means the world!   And so far... knock on wood... we haven't done any major damage when it comes to dyeing her clothes accidentally!

Have you ever tried to dye anything?  Personally, I love the idea because what if you bought that super cute white t-shirt and then spill coffee on it?  It might not be white anymore, but you can easily dye it a darker color so that it doesn't go into the donate pile or the trash can.  And, this is especially helpful with babies and their white onesies.  Especially with how much they spit up and dribble on themselves.  Instead of retiring the soiled and stained garment, just dye it.  Then get a little creative and sew on it... you have a completely new outfit for your little one to wear.  And this doesn't stop with babies.  It works well with toddlers and actually, who are we kidding... it works with every single person ever... because we can all be messy with the wrong things at times!

So, what dyes work the best?  If you have dyed any number of garments, you will definitely start to pick out your favorites and figure out what works best for you.  I honestly prefer Dylon powder dyes.  I think that they ahve the best penetration and I prefer the colors that they offer.  However, one of my favorite colors for little girls is Powder Pink, and it is almost impossible to find in the States.  Seems to be widely available in the UK... but not here.  I can't even put a link up to where I get it from, because it seems like every time I need to replenish my stock I have to search and search and always end up getting it from a different website.  Try finding it in stores good luck!  I found a Petal Pink liquid dye from Rit that produces a color that would do for me in most circumstances, however for some reason when I mix the liquid dye with the water, all of my garments come out with little blue pin dots... that can be kind of annoying.  So, I tend to buy the Dylon Powder Pink when I can find it in lots of 6 or more.

Dyeing is a relatively inexpensive way to add another deminsion to your crafted goods.  On average a packet of dye costs $2.99, I believe that the package says that it will dye 1 lb of cloth.  I don't usually dye that much at once.  So in hot water, I dissolve the salt  and however much dye I think I need... it's not an exact science, and when you are mixing it, you can see the intensity of the color in the spoon.  I also store all of my open dye packets in little ziplock baggies.  There is no need to use all of that dye and let it go to waste!

Although I do prefer Dylon dyes, I do have some colors that I like in the Rit liquid, but like I said, once you start experimenting with the colors that you want and what you like, you will figure out which ones work for you and give you the desired results.

What craft projects do you let your little ones help you with?