Maybe I Need a Crystal Ball

For me, the hardest thing about dyeing fabric is predicting the final color. I think maybe I need a crystal ball!

Case in point: I spent a lot of time getting this fabric just the way I wanted it. This is what it looked like wet. I was concerned that the delicate tone-on-tone area in the lower right might not show up, but was otherwise confident about the outcome.

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

However, this is what I ended up, once washed and dried.

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

As expected, I lost the detail of that one corner, but where did the MINT green come from? Not satisfied with this result, I retreated the fabric and tried again. Here’s the reworked version, wet. As you can see, I kicked up the background colors quite a bit.

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

And this is the final version. Which I like a lot.

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

I’ve gone to the trouble to make a TON of swatches, just so I could avoid this problem. However, I’m not measuring and weighing dyes, just trying to match proportions. It looks like I might need to be more exacting.

And here’s another one that gave me trouble. Wet:

Washed and dried:

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/

Ugh! What ugly colors! So, I tried again. Reworked and wet:

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/

That looked pretty colorful, but it ended up just the way I wanted.

Mabye I Need a Crystal Ball. Dyeing fabric with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/

I guess my “take home” points are:
1 – Trust my swatches and try to “measure” more accurately.
2 – Don’t stress when it doesn’t come out to my liking, because…
3 – I’ve gotten pretty good at reworking the colors. (Yay for me! That’s a silver lining.)

Of course, not all the dyeing ends up off-color. I’ll show you some first-try successes in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

,

4 Responses to Maybe I Need a Crystal Ball

  1. Mary Stori November 24, 2022 at 6:44 am #

    Never fear……..do-overs tend to provide the best results……plan on that extra step and enjoy the process……your pieces were worth the multiple steps!

    • Ellen Lindner November 24, 2022 at 6:36 pm #

      That’s exactly my attitude, Mary. Thanks for the encouragement!

  2. Sylvia Weir November 24, 2022 at 6:59 am #

    I call myself a sloppy dyer—-not because I am not neat—I am. But I am always excited about what I get—and don’t stress about trying to get something in particular or a repeat or match.

    It’s a chance to be carefree and have fun—and not worrying about world peace.

    there is room for all of us in this wonderful world of fiber

    • Ellen Lindner November 24, 2022 at 6:38 pm #

      Hi Sylvia, I love your comment about “not worrying about world peace.” Yes, I need to do that more! Although I have fun with both pseudo exact and loosey-goosey color mixing. I love it all!

Leave a Reply