Saturday, June 25, 2022

Dyeing

 I have been dyeing my own fabric for at least twenty five years. I rarely use commercial fabric, altho I have a huge stash. Dyeing can be a bit of a crap shoot or very precise. Mine is usually the former. I can make a decent six way gradation using the zip lock bag method that I learned years ago in Adriene Buffiington's Hand Dyed Fabric Made Easy.

I have played around with snow dyeing and ice dying with some great results, but they are not very predictable. And thus my adventure this week. I am ready to put the binding on my big quilt and thought I would choose one of the blues in some of the squares, since I plan to hang it over the couch in my family room, mostly blue and white. I like the blue/green fabric that I had used on the back, but didn't have enough left and I really wanted it to be more blue with just a little green.

It would have been helpful if I had kept a record of what colors I had used. I have several different blues and the same with green. I held my little color swatches next to the quilt and thought I had picked the right ones. I wanted mainly blue with just a touch of green. 

While this is interesting and very pretty it is sooo not what I wanted. Where did all the purple come from? It must have been in the blue, which after all is ROYAL Blue. The dye crystals do separate when you dye this way, sprinkling dye powers over the ice that covers the fabric.



  I then just plain dyed a piece of a better blue( Bright Blue) but was quite solid and rather boring. (Sorry, no picures) so I ice dyed over it, using the same new blue.



Much better. I did not take the chance of adding green this time.



I do have some of this fabric left and I think I will piece it in here and there. 

I had another sympathy card to send this week. One of the bad things about aging is that we keep losing our friends or their husbands. I didn't have any sympathy cards left, so decided to use one of my water colors/pen and ink cards. I like sewing them onto blank colored cards. I plan to take more of these with different pen and ink drawings and water color additions.



Summer is really here this week, with temps in the 90's. I like walking in the morning when it is a lot cooler. Enjoy your summer wherever you are!

I'm linking up a little late with Off the Wall Friday.

4 comments:

Andree G. Faubert said...

Hi Norma, I love that ice dying, even if it isn't what you were looking for. I've only started dyeing fabrics a few years ago, but I never try for anything specific - I just love the happy accidents. With summer here, I'm due for a new batch! Have a great week.

The Inside Stori said...

As always I enjoyed your post….just thought you’d like to hear that! So many have given up on blogs but I still find them such a great way to communicate.

Sharon Kwilter said...

Purple is my favorite color so I have to admit I love the top fabric. It looks amazing.

sonja said...

your over dyed ice dye is stunning. i too, like some folks, like the random surprise of paint on fabric and the many ways that can be applied, including happy accidents!