I posted this tutorial a few years ago and it has become somewhat of a tradition to bring it back every year! One of our family Easter traditions is dying eggs with pieces of silk. I saw a cute lady show Martha how to do it a few years ago and I ran upstairs right then to steal a tie! It’s way cooler than those cups of neon liquid that end up all over your clothes, your furniture and your hands plus it gives you an excuse to rid a man’s closet of ugly ties.
Here’s the run-down:
You need 100% silk for this to work. Make sure to check the labels to make sure you’re not buying polyester, which can look similar. I grab old ties at the thrift store where they’re usually pretty cheap. And remember: when it comes to ties, you may not want ugly ones on your man, but ugly ties do make pretty eggs! You could also use silk from an old blouse, a scarf, or whatever. So if you’re rummaging through a thrift store, check out some other areas as well.
I try to find an assortment of colors and patterns. Usually dark blues, purples, and reds work the best, but it’s fun to experiment with all kinds of things. The interesting thing is that you never know how much of the color and pattern will transfer to the eggs. Sometimes ties I think will be awesome really disappoint, and ones I didn’t think much of make the most beautiful eggs. Here’s some of the ties I grabbed from my local thrift store:
Usually it will tell you if it’s 100% silk right on the main label of the tie, but a lot of them don’t, and if that’s the case, check that little tiny end, it’s usually hiding there.
The first step is to deconstruct the tie. Snip the seams and remove the lining so you are just left with the silk. (And yes, this old Christian Dior tie, which I love, was only 50 cents at the thrift store! If it was a skirt, I would totally wear it. I have gotten many angry comments about the fact that I destroyed a Christian Dior tie. Honestly, for 50 cents I really don’t care who’s name is on it. Get over it, people!)
Next you cut a piece large enough to cover an egg. Wrap the egg with the right side of the fabric making contact with the egg. The right side is the printed side, or the side that would be on the outside of the tie. You want to try to wrap the fabric as tight as you can without breaking the egg of course. The more direct contact the silk has with the egg shell the clearer the imprint of the pattern. Where there are folds in the fabric you’ll get kind of a swirly water color effect. I love those parts- it adds to the charm. Once wrapped, tie with a piece of string or a twisty tie. (Do yourself a favor and go with the twisty tie!)
Now, notice how I tied the eggs in the above photo- with the tie on the top of the long side of the egg. If you do this, the opposite end of the egg will have the best pattern. If you are going to be sitting the eggs upright in an egg cup, this is the best way to wrap them.
However, if you want the best part of the design on the wide side of the egg, you’ll want to wrap them horizontally, like this:
Just wrap them as smoothly and tightly as you can for the best transfer.
I wish eggs came like this at the grocery store. I would probably buy a lot more eggs if they were dressed up in their silky best.
After the eggs are wrapped in silk, you’re going to wrap them again with a light colored light weight piece of fabric. An old pillowcase, sheet, or thin dish cloth is perfect. If you go to the thrift store to get ties, you may want to grab a pillowcase too. Otherwise you might get impatient at home and just take one from your kid’s room. Don’t tell my husband I did that.
Put all those little guys in a pot and cover them with water. Add 1/4 C vinegar and bring it to a boil. After about 20 minutes you can remove the eggs and set them in a colander or on a towel to dry and cool. Once they’re cool enough to handle you can remove the fabric.
This is my favorite part. I get so antsy waiting for them to cool. It’s always a surprise to see what went on in that little package.
Below are some of my results. I have to say that the first one is probably my favorite egg of all the ones I’ve ever done. I can’t believe how clearly those flowers transferred and how bold the colors turned out. Incredible!
Here are some older photos, but still fun to look at. I absolutely love the cool stripy, swirly thing going on in this one
This is one of the disappointments I talked about. I was so excited for a green tie and I thought the pattern was cool (ya know, for an egg) but it turned out super light and muted. Still pretty though, kind of like water colors.
I almost didn’t buy this blue tie because it looked boring, but I’m glad I did. Remember: bad ties make good eggs!
Try this out and let me know how it goes. Everyone will wonder how on earth you did it! Just tell them you’re a genius. Or give them our website. Your choice.
Here you can see the opposite sides of where I tied the silk, they get kind of a swirly watercolor look:
And here are the sides where the silk made the most contact:
If you want to add a little shine, just put a little vegetable oil on a paper down and give them a light rub.
Gorgeous.
Love it? Pin it!
Silk Dyed Easter Eggs
from ourbestbites.com
Cut pieces of 100% silk large enough to cover an egg. Wrap as smoothy and tightly around egg as possible, with right side of fabric facing in, and secure with a twist-tie or piece of string. Repeat process, but wrap with a plain piece of lightweight fabric, like an old white pillowcase or sheet.
Place eggs in a large stock pot and cover with water at least 2 inches above eggs. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar. Bring pan to a boil and reduce to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes and then use a pair of tongs to remove eggs and lay them (still wrapped) on layers of paper towels or an old dish towel. Let cool to room temperature and then remove the fabric wrappings. Store in the fridge until ready to display. If desired, rub with a small amount of vegetable oil for shine.
To complete this process with blown-out eggs, click here.
*Frequently Asked Questions*
Do I wrap uncooked or hardboiled eggs in silk?
Do not wrap up hard-boiled eggs. Just regular un-cooked eggs from the fridge!
Can you eat the eggs?
Since you don’t know what kinds of dyes are used to color the fabrics, and chances are they aren’t food-safe, we don’t recommend eating the eggs.
Can you make these with blown eggs so you can save them?
Yes! Click here for a tutorial on how to blow out eggs, and also turn them into hanging ornaments. Instructions on how to do silk-dyed eggs with blown out eggs are found in that post.
Will this process work with wooden or ceramic eggs?
Honestly, I did not know there was such a thing until everyone left comments asking about it on this post! Readers who have tried this have reported it does not work very well with wooden eggs.
Do I have to wrap the eggs in the plain fabric after the silk?
I think it does help keep the colors in there next to the egg and therefore make them more vibrant, but if you want to try skipping that step- chances are it will still work just fine.
Does the silk have to be from a neck tie?
Nope! Anything that’s 100% silk. A tie, a scarf, a blouse, etc.
Can you re-use the pieces of silk once you use them to dye an egg?
You can, but the colors will fade a little more each time.
Questions & Reviews
I made these last year with hallowed out eggs, like the ones for confetti. The inside actually got died too. I wish I would have taken some pictures of them but, they were smashed in the confetti egg fight.
I am making them again this year. Thank you ladies for another great idea!
amazing idea. you’re a genius. also. probably sure you live by me. or at least went to the thrift store over in my area. mainly because i’m pretty sure those were all my hubby’s ties at one point or another. woot!
Love, love, love this idea! My friend introduced me to your website and I have been enjoying your posts. I need to tell my sister about this website. Keep it up ladies, you are truly domestic goddesses!
We tried this last year but half-way through boiling them we decided to hurry up and leave for a baseball game. My husband got all the kids in the car while I waited for the eggs to finish boiling, then I just dumped them all in the sink and let them cool for about 6 hours while we were gone. They all turned out kind of like your green watercolory (it’s totally a word) egg and we were disappointed not to have any with really great, definite patterns. We will try it again this year on a day when we can stay home for the whole process and see if it works better. Thanks for the reminder!
I did this for a date once. I’m still single, but we did have fun.
I have done something similar and have kept the eggs for years. If there are no cracks there is no smell. The inside will shrink and it will sound like a marble rolling inside.
This looks like so much fun! Will definitely be trying this out!
I can not wait to try this!
Now I regret that my husband does not wear the ties… Very pretty and a great idea!
Really cool! Who would have thought of this? Amazing, can’t wait to try it.
love these, so addictive XD started out only going to make 5 ended up with a dozen *blush*
O MY CUPCAKES!!! These are to dye for, lol.
I’ve never heard of this technique. Thanks so much! I can hardly wait to get to the thrift store to look for ties.
Wow!! Amazing eggs!! Loved learning the secret on how to dye these so I wanted to thank you for sharing. Easter is now over but I can’t wait to try the technique next year and looking on the plusside of things, I will have a whole year to collect silk ties!!
Greetings from Sweden
WOW! AMAZING. I am trying this right now!
those are so beautiful, what a terrific way to do easter eggs. Thank you for sharing them.
I just made these with my sisters today. I think we have a new family tradition! Thanks so much!
I thought this was brilliant! I used some of my great-grandpas old “banker” ties and tried it. I didnt get the result that you did but I only tested 3 eggs and I think I had bad ties…they came out as a pale design, but I am definitely going to try this again, with some different ties!
Yep! Any type of silk works just fine.
Check out the link at the end of the post- it works great with hollow eggs!
One of my fancy eggs got to the White House in 2007 – they have the famous egg roll outdoors but many do not know there is a delicate display of one from each State INDOORS at the White House or the Visitors Center. I thought I knew ALLL the neat things to do with an egg…but this is a nice idea. Will try it. My lovely daughter has a broken engagement..we could use his ties. 😀
The thrift store had some great ties…Eventhough I pulled a couple out for my husband I still felt a little bad about ripping up great ties. They turned out really nice. I forgot the vinegar but then added it at the end and let them sit in the water for awhile. They turned out! I did have some streaking but still nice…and very different.
This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! The eggs are beautiful!! Can’t wait to try this! Thanks for sharing!
tried these out last night and they turned out AMAZING! blew the eggs out first so that we could just save the shells and the eggs wouldn’t spoil. only problem was, the eggs floated and we had to weigh them down in the pot by putting a plate over the top.
the paisley and polka dot ties that we found were the favorites, as well as a deep blue tie that transferred pretty well. we are thinking of tying them up with ribbon to display them, or one of the girls also mentioned that it is a tradition to fill them with glitter and crack them over people’s heads!
this blog is so amazing and you ladies are so very talented! I look forward to trying this someday.
This is awesome! I am going to try these this week.
I made these for the first time the other day and was in aw of how well they turned out! Like magic! LOL! What a fun activity! Thanks for the inspiration.
I LOVE this!!
If you covered them in polyurethane it would make them really glossy you could keep them indefinitely, at least if they’re blown out (In theory you’re supposed to be able to cover unblown eggs and they’re supposed to be fine, but my niece who is an avid pysanky doer had one explode once, and it was evidently a traumatic experience for the whole family).
Oh how pretty. And I have a huge box of ties I have been collecting to do a tree skirt out of. I just may have to sneak a few out and amaze my family at my talent.