Time For a Catch Up

It's about time I shared the results of our dyeing day earlier this month.  As you might expect, once washed and dried there was quite a change in the colours.

On the left above is the exchange dyeing (one piece is missing, left behind by mistake but soon to be reunited).  There is an 8 step change from yellow to blue and three pieces of white on white that I added to random dye baths.  On the right the largest piece is the linen that I dye painted and which has washed out to be considerably paler than it started.
 

The sumptuous purple pieces above were dyed with logwood.  I am delighted with the gorgeous apron that was parfait dyed in a jar and has some wonderful marks on it.  I was going to cut it up as it is very worn with many holes from wear but I am tempted to layer it over a support fabric to conserve it and then I might wear it!

While we're talking about dyeing I have made use of the Images of Egypt fabric that I bought at the Uttoxeter Show.  At Stitchcraft we have all been going a bit mad for tunics/tops so despite having always hated dressmaking I thought I would have a go at making one.  

The pattern is by Janet Clare and apart from being a bit fiddly on the shoulders is very easy to use.  It must be!  I managed to make it!  I made it with a lining and it could be reversible if you so wished.  I have made another one with the other fabric I bought at Uttoxeter but don't have a photo of that yet.

I think I've got the bug for dressmaking now and I am planning to make some more tops, hopefully using some of the linen I dyed.

I've been to two workshops at Stitchcraft, one to make a zipped bag and one to make infinity scarfs.

Mine is the second bag from the left and it's a great pattern.  The bag is a useful size and the zip opens it wide so you can get at what's inside.  The bag's official name is the Ellie Travel Case and the tutorial can be found on Heide Staples blog.  

On Friday I had a fun couple of hours making an infinity scarf.  

 I used a lovely piece of snowdyed fabric that had been sitting in my stash for several years.  Having made one scarf I had to make another for an upcoming friend's birthday:

I hope she likes green! 

The fabric above has also been turned into a scarf for my stepmum's birthday, although I am finding it hard to part with as it has another of my snowdyes in it and I love the flowery fabric which is by Rowan.  The selvedge shows it is a 2012 design by Melissa White (Amelie's Attic).  I don't usually go for flowery but this is really pretty.  Stitchcraft had it in their £2 box so I hope they've got a piece left when I go on Wednesday as I may have to make another scarf with it for myself.

It's May Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and as it rained all day yesterday I spent the day squaring up a load of blocks for my pinny quilt and hopefully tomorrow I will be sewing them together.  Whatever you are doing have a happy Monday and I'll be back soon to share our recent stay in Cheshire.

Snow Dyeing Results

I thought these results looked better than the last lot when I batched them up last night and, after a night in the warm, I was not wrong.

 This top one is a shirt sleeve with some lovely stitching texture on it and I've got some lovely runs from the snow.

I like the effects on this broderie anglaise (the bright bit is the ironing board cover)

Finally this is the damask drop cloth piece that was low immersion dyed in a bag.  The computer has shown the blue much 'bluer' than it really is.  The fabrics are all much stronger in the turquoise.  I shall look forward to playing with these!  OK, snow, I've had enough playing, you can go now LOL

Are you bored yet?

This morning we woke to a fresh fall of the white stuff and happily we didn't have to be anywhere.  Although the snow that came down seemed a bit light and not the big flakes type I thought I would have another crack at snow dyeing but this time using dye solutions.  

The fabrics were soda soaked and then piled up on inverted foil dishes to keep them out of the melting snow.

Procion MX dyes were prepared using a piece of the soda soaked fabric as a drop cloth to catch any loose powder and I wore a mask to save me inhaling any dye powder.  I used Bright Scarlet, Turquoise (which doesn't take well in cold temperatures but I like it) and Warm Black.  I was hoping that the warm black would split and give me some other colours.

I poured the colours on, scarlet first, then turquoise, then black but didn't use all the dye as I didn't want to get solid colour.  I forgot to put the dropcloth in the bowl so I bagged it up and poured the surplus turquoise and black carfeully onto it so that the colours mixed as little as possible.

I had a small accident with some spilt dye on the doormat so quickly soaked it up with a colour catcher.  I was really pleased with the pattern that the dye made on the catcher.

I left the fabric sitting under the snow until about 5 o'clock this evening and it's now out of the cold environment and batching in my warm studio in plastic.  We will have to be patient until tomorrow when I will rinse it all out.  So far the results look very promising but I didn't take any piccies of that stage, sorry.  

While the dye was doing its thing DH and I decided to take advantage of the lying snow to go for a  walk and take some photos.  

You can see why I didn't fancy taking the car out, our side road is a bit slippy and there's a slope to negotiate at the bottom.

A bit of inspiration in car tyre patterns,

and paw prints and sled tracks.

We didn't go very far, just across to a neighbouring housing estate which, at the moment affords a view across fields to Great Gonerby.

DH looks like one of those scarecrows that villages put out for scarecrow festivals :-)  If things go to plan these fields will soon be lost to 99 houses.  They just have to find a way of bridging the railway line.  

I havn't tweaked the light in the photo too much as the atmosphere was very muted.  There were some lovely lines and potential stitch marks in the views.

What do you think?  This year we have to choose a theme for the Journal Quilt challenge in the Contemporary Quilt Group of the Quilters Guild and I think I am going to choose 'Marks' as that should allow me enough latitude for the year.  I didn't do the challenge last year but I am excited by the 12" x 8" horizontal format this year and 'Marks' will enable me to continue the work I started with Jo Budd, Shelley Rhodes and Dionne Swift.

Snow dyeing

I didn't manage to wash my farbics out until late yesterday evening and finished ironing them dry just before 11 last night so the pics had to wait till this morning.  As I feared I had used too much dye powder and I didn't get quite the results I had hoped for.  However, I'll show you the best bits.

This piece above started out as a self coloured cream fabric with printed dragonflies.  The feathers were screen printed in a previous play session and the snow dye has randomly coloured the background and made the dragonflies 'pop'.  I could have got this result with low immersion dyeing too as you cannot see any real effect from the snow.

 These blue pieces have more of the marks I would expect from thawing snow but some of the areas are more solid than I would have liked.

I like the marks above which came from batching the doillies lower down against this fabric.

I think all three of the fabrics above had some polyester in them so the effect is more muted.

As the only colours I used in the red pieces above were lemon yellow, cold red and terracotta I think the dark patches have come from concentrations of the terracotta dye that did not dissolve.

I love this broderie anglaise fabric above and as it's a lightweight cotton it has taken the dye well.  I wish I'd dyed a bigger piece now.

I think this is a tiny piece of lightweight linen above.

 These doillies could have been dyed in any dye bath, snow wasn't required but I love the spread of colour in them.

And finally,

Two areas from a damask napkin with a good variety of colours and marks.  

There were quite a lot of other pieces that didn't come out too well so I havn't shown them and I didn't dye any yardage, just fat quarter pieces and smaller. 

If I had known the very old Hungarian dyes were going to strike quite as well I would have been a bit more sparing with them and maybe then the dye would have had more room to create its patterns.  There is a rumour of more snow later in the week so if it arrives in enough quantity I'll probably have another go but with dyes already mixed with water.  If anyone would like to volunteer to rinse it all out for me just give me a call!  I hate that part!