Cheese cloth table runners

I did this! First of all, its a bit of a time consuming process, but they look stunning. You can find youtube tutorials online for doing it, but essentially its hot water w/ dye in it, dip/soak for like 30-45 minutes, then rinse in cold water until water is clear and hang to dry. Don't use any utensils you will eat with again to stir the dye up. I used white plastic hangers for drying to avoid any color transfer from a metal or colored hanger. Here is the info on the cheesecloths I bought from Amazon. Pro-tip: Do not get a lesser quality cloth because it looks haggard.

Cheesecloth - 45 Sq Feet: Grade 50-100% Unbleached Cotton - Filter - Strain - Reusable (5 Yards, 50 Weight)

by Pure Acres Farm

I am planning on doing this! I already bought the cheesecloth and I got the 60 grade.. it’s perfect! I don’t have any tips on dying yet but I will post about it once I dye them 😊 I did test out small batches to get the dye formula right so I highly suggest doing that. I am dying mine peach and the first test batch came out more neon orange lol.

Where did you buy it from ?

View Quoted Comment Thank you!

View Quoted Comment Whoops. Meant to reply to you. Thanks for the dye tip! Where did you buy your cheese cloth from ?

I did it. I bought the cheesecloth off Amazon and used Rit Dye in my bathtub to dye it grey. I found it simple. The only thing that was difficult for me is that I wanted it to stay in one continuous piece because that's how I wanted it on the table. So it was a bit of a challenge to get it to hang to dry. But totally worth the effort. Here is a pic of it before the flowers were added to the table.

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I got it on Amazon! I chose the bleached version so it’s white. This is the one I got!

View Quoted Comment This is gorgeous!! ❤️

Ok, here is a pic of the yellow ones I made... I'm not sure if we will flatten them out like HayMrsO did (great job BTW!) or do a more wavy thing with them...TBD I suppose. Our theme is more bohemian and we are leaning into the mismatched bottle centerpieces with the LED lights.

I did! I got mine on Etsy (I got grade 50) - they have it in different lengths but here's the link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/601532103/grade-50-cheesecloth-unbleached-36-wide?ref=shop_home_active_12&frs=1

If you're using Rit dye, I would STRONGLY suggest you do a test batch using the dip method. I clipped a piece to a hanger and dunked the whole thing in for like 15 seconds, pulled up about 3-4 inches and let that sit for 30 sec, repeated for 1 min, 3 min, 5 min, 8 min. This way you get an ombre piece that shows you how long you have to dunk it all in before you do the real thing. Let that puppy DRY first because the colors dried are different than they are wet. I also strongly encourage getting the dye sealer liquid as well and using that.

I actually took all of my cheesecloth and washed it in the washer on gentle before dying, then I did the first piece (post-test) in a 1 gal of water dye bath. Followed the instructions on Rit's website for putting into the dye lock and then let it dry. What I DID learn is that it's honestly best to dunk all your fabric in one bath after that. Don't do seperate baths or try to re-use the same dye bath for more than one piece. What does in soaks up most of the dye and the bath's second use doesn't transfer as much color nor as quickly. So.... once you pull the trigger and do the first piece and know you're happy with it, do the rest in a larger dye bath. I used 3 gal buckets I got in the dollar store and did the whole thing in my stainless steel sink with big plastic tablecloths on the floor so I didn't have any accidental dye transfer. Lucky me, I worked clean and didn't need to worry about a thing. If, even after you do the dye lock, you feel like things are too dark, you COULD rinse them in hot water and watch a ton of dye leach out real quick. I did do this because my mauve turned out more raspberry than mauve. I then dunked it into a secondary taupe bath to get the color I wanted which is a very pretty rich dusty mauve.

I hung mine on dollar store plastic curtains on a line I hung up outisde. 3 hangers per piece and draped them with decent care. I didn't have any splotchyness or anything.

Here is one of mine, pre-taupe dunk, dry -

We are doing this! We have not started yet, but we purchased ours from cheeseclothfabric.com since you can buy it in bulk. I am not sure if it is the cheapest out there, but I was happy with the price over keep looking. We got grade 50 based on a website I found with instructions on how to dye it.

View Quoted Comment This is gorgeous !!!

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much for all of this !! Thank you !

View Quoted Comment I did look at this website, so I'm glad you mentioned it ! I was wondering if it was legit.

View Quoted Comment It also came super fast! I ordered on March 11th and with regular shipping, it was delivered on March 14th!

I have some experience dying fabric and if you're having a hard time finding the shade you want with Rit, there's a great website with dyes:
https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html

These dyes tend to be brighter/stronger colors. They have a billion shades and tutorials as well. Your cheesecloth should be natural fiber to use these dyes (cotton, rayon, etc or a blend of natural fabrics).

They also have dye fixative and other accessories for dying that you may find useful.

View Quoted Comment

Thank you for that !!

I dyed mine outside in a huge pot (think shrimp boil) and then rinsed them outside and stuck them in the dryer. I then rolled them on a pool noodle and placed in a trash bag ready to cut for the wedding. I did not pre-cut anything, as I wanted them to be cut to size just in case I wanted to change something. I purchased 90 grade cheesecloth as I am using them for runners and napkins.

I am also going to dye cheese cloth. I am going to be using it for table runners. I bought a 100 yard roll. I am dying it eggplant color. I bought 10 bottles of dye. I have no idea if that is the correct amount. I think I am going to try to use my washing machine to dye it. I have a top loader.

How did some of yours come out?