On-line Summer Tie-dye Quilt Class!

For those of you who want to learn more about tie-dye, and who also like to sew, here's a great way to combine both!  Check out my other blog's On-line class, offered this summer!  It's a great way to learn basic folds, plus you will have a great finished product with the fabrics you dye!  Here's a picture of the one I created while writing the class:

You can make one like this, or create your own design for using the fabrics!  And of course, the same fold and dye techniques can be used for clothing items as well.  Hope you will join me!

More scrunch dyeing

I recently scrunch dyed a piece of muslin with the intention of overdyeing with black in a swirl... something I have been doing on shirts a lot lately. However, after doing the first dyebath with the colors, I decided to stop there and use the fabric for a whole cloth wall hanging. Here is the fabric before I began to highlight with stitching:

When I hung the fabric on my design wall, it looked like a Solar Eruption to me, so that's what I named it. Stitching has begun to highlight the design, and I will probably add some other embellishments such as beading before I'm done. Just wanted to share an example of what you can get from a simple scrunch!

Lightning Bolt tutorial

I updated the tie-dye wiki yesterday with photos and a description of how to fold a double lightning bolt. Click here to see the tutorial.

New video

Hi, fellow dyers! At long last, I have a new video! It's a demo on scrunch dyeing, with a bonus segment on freeze dyeing, with a comparison of the two shirts dyed. You can view it on youtube, and there will be a link on the sidebar in a few moments. It's not my best work, but I hope it encourages you to try the techniques I am demonstrating... I have had good results from both versions. Happy dyeing!

Quick update

Wow! How time flies when you're havin' fun... dyeing! I have been very busy this year doing lots of dyeing, and hope to have time in July to do those promised demos... one more show, then I get a rest until late August when I teach a dyeing class and participate in our community's annual Open Studios tour. Meanwhile, I have been experimenting in some loose accordion fold dyeing. Here are a couple of examples:



I really like the results I'm getting with this technique, and it's so easy! The garments above are both rayon, and they take the dye differently than cotton jersey does. I haven't tried this on cotton yet... maybe next month! Stay tuned, and happy dyeing!

Upcoming videos

I'll bet you thought I fell into a vat of dye, never to be heard from again, right? I can't believe I haven't posted anything here since August! Not for lack of desire, just no time! But I did want to let you know I plan on at least 2 more demo videos soon, first will be scrunch dyeing with a variation where I freeze the shirt before dyeing;

second is a pattern I like a lot... a combination of a diagonal stripe and medallions tied with sinew.

Anyway, my plan is to try and get these done in the next month or so, weather permitting. And I say that because my experience is the dyes do better when the temps are warm, but if needbe, I'll do them in the laundry room instead of the garage.

Then what? Well, I have a full project board with lots of things I want to do, but what seems to be floating to the top right now is batik. I have dabbled in this area over the past few years:

Mostly, I've done autumn leaves, but now I want to branch out with stamped designs, as well as some more traditional batik designs on shirts. I'm busy gathering up the tools I will need, and ruminating over what to do first, next, etc... my brain just won't shut up! So I hope to have lots more to share with you in 2011! Hope you're trying some of the demos I have already done, and if you think of patterns you want to learn, let me know. If I already know how to do them, I'll try to set up a demo. If not, I'm always on the lookout to learn new patterns myself, so we can learn together!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great holiday!

The "Other" Rainbow Swirl shirt

If you have watched my video demo on the Rainbow Swirl pattern, you might have wondered what I did with the shirt I started dyeing without first pre-soaking in Soda Ash solution... well, here it is:

I left it bound and let the yellow dye dry out; next I soda soaked it, squeezed out the excess soda ash solution and let it sit for a couple of days, then applied the dyes and batched as shown in the video. Just goes to show, goofs can be overcome!