Dyeing Again!

 Look at all these juicy colours! I had fun today with my friends from Tuesday Quilters as I shared how to dye these gorgeous fabrics. We used 3 colours of procion dye - lemon yellow, magenta and turquoise, to create a rainbow of 12 colours and then everyone experimented with colour mixing to create even more. Like these:

 Lyn loves experimenting and tried dropping contrasting dyes into her cups:

I can't wait to see how these turn out!

Everyone was very busy and trying to persuade them to stop for lunch was very difficult!

 Some of you may recognise the lady on the left - she is QuiltSue, the infamous blogger from Quilt Times! She does like to pose for the camera:

 See what I mean?!! Now Sue likes everything arranged in neat and orderly fashion so she found certain aspects of the day very difficult. When I suggested scrunching or pleating fabric and spooning on random colours she was horrified.  'But I don't do random' she wailed! But she did succeed. Here she is trying very hard at random:

Janet definitely did random! I love the pink and golden yellow combination here:

Mandy  had a go at creating tree like patterns with pleated fabric with great success. Some of her fabric looked just like tulips:

 In the afternoon we tried something different - dyeing silk scarves in the microwave. First soak your scarf in diluted vinegar, gently wring, then scrunch and add steam fixed silk paint. Here's Janet adding paint:

Pop into a covered pot in the microwave for 3 minutes, rinse and iron dry:

 Tah Dah! If you'd like to have a go visit 'Silkcraft' for the paints and pongee scarves we used.

 We had some beautiful colour combinations:

 Ooh who's that posing on the right? You've guessed - it's QuiltSue again! She asked me to have my photo taken - 'I don't do photos' I wailed. But I did have a photo - here I am on the right. :

What a great day!

Dyeing Day Satisfaction

 

My dyeing day was great fun and the 11 ladies seemed very satisfied with the results. Each went home with a stash of dyed fabrics to be washed. Here are mine drying on the line. We all made a 12 step colour wheel (above), a 4 step graduation:

     

...some tie dyed beauties:

....and random pieces dyed in a tray:

I can't wait to see their fabrics and quilts they make with them!Come on girls - send me photos! (Click on My Profile to email me)

Hand Dye Quilt

My dyeing class is fast approaching and I want to have a quilt made up with my hand-dyes to show the participants. So today I spent a happy couple of hours making nine patch blocks from half a dozen colours and solid white.

 

Then I held my breath and cut each block into quarters. Phew! that wasn't too bad. Now I just have to arrange them. Here are half of the blocks. I think it's going to take a bit of fiddling til I'm satisfied!

                                      

More Dyeing Links

I am a fan of Patsy Thompson and have a couple of her DVDs on free motion quilting which I find really helpful. I recently discovered a post on her blog about dyeing. This looks great but I'll have to wait for some sunshine to try it out......
I also have a book by Robbi Joy Eklow called 'Free Expression: The Art and Confessions of a Contemporary Quilter' in which she describes her method of dyeing large pieces of fabric. Again I need a fine day to try this as I will need to hang the fabric over a washing line and pour dye onto it.
.... So according to the weather forecast tomorrow is not going to be good for dyeing. Instead I'm looking forward to a day with my Bernina and the dogs will keep me company stretched out on the bed in my sewing room!

Dyeing Day

Yesterday I had fun dyeing samples to show my quilt group on Tuesday ready for my workshop in September. I will be showing them several ways of dyeing including dyeing in plastic cups which is a great way to get a rainbow of fabrics quickly and easily.

Here's what I do:

I use measuring spoons for making up the dyes and solutions because it's easier than weighing. Equipment is cheap and cheerful from the supermarket. For spooning the dye into the cups and mixing I use disposable picnic teaspoons.

I use white cotton fabric e.g. sheeting and tear each metre into 9 pieces just over 12" square.

Wearing a dust mask and rubber gloves mix one level teaspoon of dye with 100ml warm water. I used 3 colours of procion dye - Royal Blue, Scarlett Red and Golden Yellow from Fibrecrafts. Once the dyes are mixed you can take off the mask.

Mix 90ml of table salt with 1 litre of hot water and 45 ml soda ash to 1 litre warm water then mix these together in a 2 litre plastic jug.



I use disposable plastic cups (7oz) in a cat litter tray. I add soda and salt solution to half fill each of 12 cups. Then add 4 disposable teaspoonsfull of dye to each cup and add the fabric. I use these combinations:

4Red, 3Red+1Yellow, 2R+2Y, 1R+3Y
4Yellow, 3Y+1Blue, 2Y+2B, 1Y+3B
4Blue, 3B+1R, 2B+2R, 1B+3R

So here is everything in the cups:



I just leave these to sit for 2-3 hours then rinse the fabric in cold water and put into the washing machine for a 40 degree wash, dry and iron. This gives marbled fabrics which I love. If you like less marbling use more liquid and stir the fabric for a few minutes before leaving to stand. Easy isn't it!





Note: I adapted this dyeing method from a several sources. Here's one site with more dye recipes:
http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/
Helen Deighan's book 'Dyeing in Plastic Bags' is my dyeing bible!