A Different Kind of Cooking

One tradition that we've cultivated through our years doing potluck is a "secret solstice" gift. We drop the names of each family into a bag and we each pick one to gift. The rules are fairly simple. We strive for something handmade or "recycled" in someway and we keep the budget under $20. In years past I've made homemade dog biscuits, lip balm, soap, pancake mix, soft playcubes for a baby and so much more.

Since we're swapping gifts tonight, I figure I can finally share what I've been up to. Surprisingly my gift included work that took place mainly in the kitchen!

The family we got recently bought and moved into their first home. I wanted to honor that and ended up making some flags that they could string in their new screened in patio. They were fun and easy to make.

What you need:

1-2 old white t-shirts (thankfully my brother had a few XL ones hanging around that he let me have). I cut them up in a bunch of wide rectangles.

Kool Aid!

And lots of it! Kool Aid makes a great dye if you want the material to come out in a nice muted shade. It was perfect for what I was making. 

Vinegar!

 Work with one color at a time. Mix up 1 cup of vinegar and 2 cups of water. Add 4 Kool Aid packets of the color of your choice and stir well. Add the material you want to dye and let it "cook" for 25-35 minutes (really until it soaks up most of the color). Stir occasionally.

Orange

Red! (aka Black Cherry)

Once the material has soaked up enough dye, give it a quick rinse. I found that my colander was helpful for that part (the less you have to touch the cloth, the better!)

Purple (aka Grape) getting a rinse

 After you've rinsed the cloth, toss them in the dryer. You need to dry each color separately so they won't run. I also added a little sachet of lavender in with them as they dried to help mask the Kool Aid/vinegar smell.

After drying. Looking good!

I brought in my sous-chef and he helped me decorate each one. We used stamps, scraps of leftover material and fabric paint. Then I sewed a hem and string them up with yarn!

Finished flags!

Close up of flag

We've wrapped them up and are bringing them along with us to potluck tonight. We're also bringing a Mexican lasagna, but I'll fill you in on that tomorrow!

Happy New Year!