One thing I’ve learned while blogging about my dyeing adventures is how to correctly spell the word. 🙂 Thanks to all you readers who pointed out the need for a letter E in the word dyeing. I think I’ve got it now. And I hope you’ll excuse my misspelled pun in the title.
34 fabrics, (nearly 8 yards,) and two weeks later, I’ve put a healthy dent in my goal to learn about painting with dye. And I’ve got some fabrics that I’m quite happy with. Some I over worked and some might benefit from more attention. But, mostly I’ve got very usable fabrics. Here’s the collection.
It looks like I’ll need to add some yellow next time. And probably some more neutrals.
Here’s a close up view of some of the fabrics pre-ironing. The pretty pink one is a clean up rag. (CUR in my notes.)
There are SO many different things you can do with fabric and dye. Some of very quick, like washing on thin dye, or dunking fabric into a dye vat. Others require a lot of time, with multiple layers, dry times in between, or tricky hand painting. I know I’ve only scratched the surface of the possibilities.
Here’s a case in point. I wanted to have a fuchsia motif with a blue background. But, since those two colors are near-complements I didn’t think I should overlap them. So, I stenciled on the fuchsia leaves and then painstakingly painted the blue on. Here it is in progress, with a little white intentionally left around each motif.
And here’s the finished result.
I love it, but I’ll need to find a faster way to produce such results. I’m sure there’s a resist product I could add on top of the fuchsia so then I’d be able to just wash on the blue. I’ll bet I could stencil the resist on, too. That would be a lot better. I’ll have to research it.
As much as I enjoyed the dye painting I was really ready to put away all the plastic and switch my studio back to a SEWING one. I just bought a new sewing machine, so I’ll finish stitching my current quilt. (I AM anxious to start a project with those dyed fabrics, though!)
Thanks for taking this ride with me.
Ellen Lindner
Wax is used as a resist in batiks, but that’s a lot of wax! Lol!
Right, Rebecca, that is a lot of wax. And I wouldn’t want to be bothered with ironing it off. Maybe something simpler like school glue or soy wax.
I’ve enjoyed watching your process as I do all of your posts. I’ve dyed fabrics before and love them especially mu CUR but I haven’t tried to make prints as you have…now I’m inspired to give it a try…..😀
Oh yes, Ingrid, do try it and then show me what you get!
You can’t just mention a NEW sewing machine and not tell us what it is…..can you?
Hi Susan,
So, inquiring minds want to know? 🙂 I ended up with a Bernina 740. It has an extra wide throat for stitching quilts and it can sew through just about anything. Loving it so far!
That is a fabulous collection! I’m sure you have learned so much in this journey. That pink/blue print is really fabulous. I hope you can figure out an easier way to create it.
Thanks, Mary. I KNOW I’ll have fun with these!
Loved the ride – learned a lot! No doubt will be using some of your techniques in the future. Can’t wait to see them seen on the NEW machine!
Stay tuned, Cindy!
Dyeing and painting fabric add a whole new element/experienced skills and it does take your mind and production away from sewing. There are so many people who dye cloth, we might do better to support them when we want to use beautifully coloured fabric, although painting/dyeing your own cloth does leaves you in charge.
You’ve produced some lovely cloths that I’m sure you’ll put to excellent use. Have fun with your new sewing machine!
Thanks, MaryAnn. I’m definitely looking forward to using these fabrics. But, per your suggestion, I’m sure I’ll still buy great fabrics from other painters/dyers.
Dyeing your own fabric is so much fun. There are 2 books I can recommend, and 1 dyeing group, who has been together for over a decade. Please email me. For your fuchis motifs on a blue background, may I suggest you dye your fabric in blue, then, after it you’ve washed and dried it, paint on your motif, either free-hand or with stencils. Or you could sunprint the motifs on, which is SO MUCH FUN!
Thanks, Becky. I’ll contact you.