Dyeing Alpaca Fibres

Who knew that taking my children to an Alpaca farm was going to increase my repertoire of different things to dye?

On a beautiful sunny day, my boys and I headed out to the local Alpaca farm for some fun feeding and petting of adorable alpacas.

After, we went into the owner's house and she showed me Alpaca roving.   I had to buy some, as there was a thought brewing in my head.   

I was told they were very receptive to dyes.   I love to do needle felting and then embroidery on top of it, and finally use those pieces and incorporate them into a quilt.   

 I mixed up 3 batches of dye.   Pink, blue and purple were my choices.

What I did notice instantly is the alpaca fibres absorbed the dye much faster and much more readily than cotton fabric does.

After only 4 hours, I took it out of the dye bath and rinsed it and let it dry.   Look at the vibrant colours that were produced!   You may have noticed that I purchased a light brown roving, that's because there was no white left.  I almost think the white would be more brilliant when dyed.   I was sure to ask when she is getting her next shipment of white in.

You will notice on the blue that there are bits of the brown colouring that show through.   I think it adds texture to it, and am curious to try overdyeing parts of it.

I am very excited to do more experiments with dyeing alpaca fibres and see where that leads!