Spray Dyed and Stenciled Napkins Tutorial

My son and I used this lovely pine needle punch
from Martha Stewart to make some pretty napkins
that will be a Solstice gift for my mother. It was a bit
of an experiment and I'm really pleased that
they came out so well.

You will need:

*Martha Stewart pine needle paper strip
punch (or any other design)
*100% white cotton handkerchiefs (I bought
mine, a package of 12, at the dime store.)
*freezer paper
*spray bottle that holds ~2 cups
*Rit Dye in Royal Blue
  *1 tsp. salt
*hot water
*iron
*2 clothespins

My dye mix was an experiment that worked. I mixed
about 2 cups of hot water with about 1/8 cup of dye and
a teaspoon of salt in a spray bottle and shook it up.  

Punch your paper strips from freezer paper that is
long enough to cover the length of one edge of your
handkerchief. Iron the waxy/shiny side of the punched
freezer paper strip to your handkerchief.


Hang the handkerchief from something so you can
spray it with the dye. We used a tree branch outside. The
paper strip should be on the bottom. Spray heavily where
the paper strip is and lightly everywhere else to
get a bit of an ombre look.

Let the handkerchief dry. In our case, we had to watch
for that fine line between the handkerchief drying and
freezing so we brought ours in a little sooner and ironed
with a hot iron to finish the job. Once they are dry
you can pull up the stencil - the best part!

Repeat for each handkerchief. We were able to use one
stencil strip twice before we needed to punch a new one.
Just make sure that the stencil is completely adhered
to the handkerchief before spraying it.

  Since I was doing this as an experiment, I thought I
would play it safe and let the handkerchiefs sit overnight
before washing on cold and drying in a hot dryer, so, I
don't know if it was necessary or not but it worked ;)
They came out beautifully with no fading of detail!
 
And that's it! Really simple and a nice project to
do along with a younger child or with very little
guidance for an older child.

*Note: We only used a small portion of the dye mix so there will be
plenty left over for other projects or you can reduce the amounts
to get a smaller quantity of dye mix.