onion peels for the win

do you save your onion peels?….. if your answer is no, let me tell you why you should be……

fabric.

or rather to “age” your fabric. (insert heart hands here!)

when I was making the pouches for the micro-mini journals recently, (so the journals don’t get lost on the desk)….

I was looking at my pile of fabric and wishing of course, for that perfectly aged fabric I would have found in my grandma stack…. you know that look- fabric that has that vintage vibes, sun faded, slightly yellowed and “loved look”…..[now insert onion peels here.]

i had, of course, been saving my yellow onion peels. I knew you could use onion peels for paper, so I was fairly certain I could use the peels with the fabric. and YES! of course we can!!

Here is my very precise and measured procedure:

  1. grab a large coffee mug,

  2. put some onion peels in the bottom,

  3. add water

  4. add small fabric bits and strips (remember I am using a large coffee mug)

  5. throw it all in the microwave.

  6. nuke for 3-4 minutes

full transparency….the water boiled over and totally overflowed and did make a watery mess, but the fabric……made it all worth it. And, I realized I could use less water. *oh- and, pour the spilled water back into the cup to be reused.

wanna see what in the world I am talking about?!…… want to see the fabric? this is the small stack of fabric that got nuked with the onion peels. If you are wondering if the fabric smells like onions = no :)

and one more tid bit of info… the “staining” of the fabric did get darker as i kept going. I believe there are two pieces of the same fabric at the end of the video that demonstrate this.

obviously if the fabric is lighter, the staining is easier to appreciate, but, even colored fabric would appear “aged.”

Thanks so much for being here!

xo. kristin