Ever wanted to be able to dye your own custom sashiko threads easily, without fuss and mess? Now you can!

Olympus have come up with this great dyeing system, which uses a 'dye pen' to literally colour in your sashiko threads. It could not be easier. This pack contains two of the pens, which also serve as the measuring system for the dye. So easy to use, as you simply 'colour in' your threads, just as you like!

I've dyed sashiko threads with Procion dye (can be messy), Dylon machine dyes (in the microwave - also a bit messy, and with the potential to stain everything too), and indigo (incredibly messy and complicated). This new dye system is very easy - load up the dye pen, lay out your thread on some clingfilm, and off you go.

Please watch this video I've loaded up onto YouTube to see EXACTLY how it is done! Thanks to Takeshi san and the great team at Olympus for creating a version with English subtitles for me! The video is your free dyeing tutorial, so please refer to it whenever you want. Please study the video to understand how to unfasten the dye pens to fill them - it is quite precise!

I have a starter kit and a 15-colour mega set coming from Japan plus 20m 6-ply medium and 20m 3-ply fine sashiko threads for dyeing, 50ml sachets of dye fix, and I will also be selling dyes separately soon. It is recommended that you don't mix up the colours that you use in each dye pen, because darker colours will stain the applicator, and could discolour subsequent lighter dyes. So don't use your yellow dye pen for blue, or blue for red etc. For the purest colour, keep one pen per dye.

For this reason, because there are 15 different dyes in the mega dye selection box, and you also get three pens in the starter kit, I'm doing a special deal on six packs of these pens (12 pens in total), so you could get one pen per dye colour by building on the three that come with the starter pack to make 15 pens - and dye lots of unique threads - and save 5% on buying the packs separately.

Once these dyes arrive, I will experiment with them and let you know what happens!

Dyes and dye fix are non toxic, but please be sensible and keep them away from pets. Older children would be able to use these dyes with supervision. Please use your common sense!