Rinky dink project.... dyeing kitchen towels

Several years ago I purchased some huck towels from the Rag Lady (on Amazon).   Over the years they got a bit dingy and I couldn't find any replacements I liked.  I've been working on learning to dye fabric and so I have leftover dye.  I use it to over dye those dingy faded towels.

Here are some of them (some are in the laundry)

This is how they look before dyeing

 I soak them in soda ash solution before applying the dye.  That is my dye solution in 2 oz bottles.
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My dyed fabrics

I have a number of fabrics I dyed but have not used ... I seem to be hoarding them.   I play around with them but never actually MAKE anything.  Soon, I hope

Overdyeing Overalls

I wear overalls pretty much all the time unless it is too hot.   I love hickory striped overalls with an important color modification... I over dye them , which means I tub dye them in a bucket of dye.  The blue part stays pretty much the same color and the white part takes the color of the dye.  You CAN use Rit dye but the color fades pretty fast, which can be cool.  If you want the color to last longer use fiber reactive dye.... I get mine from Dharma Trading and I followed their directions for tub dyeing.

Start with this

And get this

I didn't get the color I really wanted... I wanted more of a wine color than a grape color but I think I just chose the wrong color.  I wanted a new color and this is too similar to my old ones.  I can always dye them again....

Hanging out with my others (new ones on left)

Goings on at our house

Dyed fabrics

Strips

Squares

Doors being primed

Playing with color

I am playing with color in THREE fabric projects.  I love playing with color.

I am making a quilt from a kit; this Underground Blues kit includes some rudimentary directions and 31 fat quarter batik fabrics in blues and greens.   This is my first ever kit quilt.  I decided to go with the kit because the fabric was less expensive in the kit.  I also hoped it would give me some choices to play with that I might not choose myself.  If I want a full size quilt for the bed, I will have to augment the kit fabric.  But I may do a diamond set pattern with a border.  I don't like everything set in stone before I start making it;  I like making design decisions along the way.  Otherwise it's no fun.

For me, quilting is all about playing with color.  I don't enjoy fiddly complex piecing.  I keep my utilitarian quilts (for beds and throws) simple so I don't feel bad when they get damaged and I don't cringe when a cat has his way with my quilt.  This design fits the bill since the blocks are just strips.  It's fun to work with. I paired up the fabrics for the blocks and I've been making about four blocks a day.

Pippin always helps when I arrange them on the bed

fabrics paired to sew

My second project is making some cushion covers for a couple of chairs.  John got the chairs from a yard sale for a total of thirty dollars before I even knew him.  Twenty some years ago I made new cushions for both chairs and I am a little tired of the fabric.  The cats have also been a bit hard on the cushion fabric... there is something inviting about sharpening your claws on upholstery fabric.  So I am making simple covers for the chairs.  

I love how these two blue batiks look on the back of this chair.  I am still figuring out exactly how I will make this one.

For this chair, I used a bargello quilt I had kicking around.  It fits perfectly and I like it.

Then there is my ongoing dye experiment project.  Yesterday I tried a simple Shibori inspired technique.  I hand sewed a line of thread and pulled it up tight and applied some dye.

Thread pulled up tight

thread opened up

I added some more lines of stitching last night so I can add some more color today.

Commercial Batik Process

This is how the batik fabric we buy at the fabric store is made.  It's made by hand in faraway countries.  It's pretty hard work.  

Painting on silk satin

I got a piece of silk satin (on sale).  I wasn't at all sure how it would work...I didn't expect much.  I like how it is streaky and "uneven".

Silk satin

The dye looks so different wet versus dry.  Some colors actually look richer and darker dry than wet.  These reds looked terrible when they were wet.

Silk taffeta

Light weight cotton

I find it difficult to stay in experimentation mode... I keep wanting it to look good, which is counter productive to my experimentation.

Color Palette light and dark

I mixed three colors of dynaflo... blue violet, salmon, and yellow green.  I applied the dye to damp fabric sparingly, then salted it.  The next day, I used the same mixed colors and applied more dye, this time with less water.  I tried using epsom salts the second day.  They didn't do much.

Here are my results:

day 1

day 2

I am excited by the results, getting stronger and weaker versions of the colors, though sometimes the addition of water affects the color as well as the strength, especially the yellow green.  The photos, taken with my simple point and shoot camera, do not accurately portray the colors but you get the idea.

Next time I will think more about where I don't want to add color.  I destroyed some of the effects I liked in the top portion.

Trial and error Dye experiments with samples

Yesterday I mixed three colors... blue violet, yellow green and rusty orange.  Mixing the colors is very trial and error right now.  It is hard to track what the proportions are and diluting it with water can change the color as well.  For right now, we'll leave it at that.  Hopefully I'll get better at it.

I really am at a just try it and see,  with little control over what may happen.

After I mixed the colors, I tried the yellow green and blue violet on my samples.  I set up my samples by sewing them on a light cotton fabric and stretching the fabric over a small cardboard box.  I used a brush to dampen the samples and apply the yellow green.  I sprinkled on salt.  I painted the violet color on the surrounding cotton background fabric.

 I set them aside to dry and brushed off the salt this morning.  It's fun to see what I get.

Of the samples, I like the lower left habotai the best.


I like the lower part of the violet background even better.  I painted on a stronger violet than I wanted so I brushed on some water.  The dye had already begun to set in some places but spread in others making a swirly effect.  The salt magnified the effect further.

Once again, this is a very trial and error process at this stage.

This is a better rendition of the yellow green color.  The salt pulled the green color out of the dye and made a nice effect on the habotai (aka china silk).

Silk fabric samples for dye experiments

I ordered silk fabric samples from Dharma Trading.  They came today.  I am so excited!  There are 36 silk fabrics, all different weights and types.  The samples cost $6.99 and no shipping charge on samples.

The samples are four inches square, which is big enough for limited dye experiments.  I can see how the dye goes on and how the fabric takes color.  I tried four samples yesterday.  To my surprise, I liked the satin quite a bit.  It took the color well and very easy to apply.

Below, clockwise from the left upper corner we have Crepe Back Silk Satin, Viscose Rayon/Silk Blend, Silk Double Chiffon, Crepe de Chine.  I left the labels on them so I can see what they are.  I used a brush to wet the surface and a Fantastix bullet tip applicator, which worked pretty well.   I put rock salt on all of them and they certainly did not respond to the salt the same way.  However, they may not have been equally damp.

One of the hard things about dye is that the color lightens when it dries so you don't really see what you are getting while you are doing it.  It would be better if I could figure out a way to suspend the samples but that is  difficult with such a small size.

I want to get color results and textures that I can use in small art quilts.  I want the process itself to be not too messy or arduous.  Here is a link that shows and talks about some of the effects I hope to achieve.

Working on painting silk

I want to learn to paint silk to use in my art quilts.  I've been experimenting with mixing dye colors, application methods, preparing the fabric and using different types of silk.  Finally today I got some interesting results.

Here is a piece of silk taffeta.  I used blue tape to attach the fabric to the box so that it is suspended.  First I sprayed it with some water, then I applied the paint with bits of natural sponge, and immediately spread some rock salt on the wet paint.  I like how the salt affected the color.

 I am using Jaquard dynaflo dye.  I like the rusty orange color, which is mixed from red, golden yellow and a touch of black.

How it looked when the salt was off

This piece of taffeta was prepared the same way except that it is stretched over some padding.