Hand dyed and crayola fabric fun!

I visited my cousin Paula last week,

so we could dye fabric together.

She is a very talented quilter,

and wanted to learn to dye fabric

to use in her quilts.

I'm not an expert by no means, but

  I enjoy dyeing fabric myself.

First we mixed up different colors of

Procion MX dye

that we bought from Dharma Trading Co.

Each color made up almost a quart jar.

We were sure to label each one,

but with the warm water inside,

(which was used to dissolve the dye and the urea),

the labels kept coming off, so here we have

masking tape to try to keep the labels in place.

Otherwise you can not tell what the colors are.

Be sure and label everything!

Paula's workshop porch was a great space to dye fabric.

 It kept us out of that hot Texas sun,

 yet gave us a bit of a breeze.

She also had a sink inside, for water rinsing.

This is awashi shibori, or pole wrapping.

It is curing in the hot sun.

We wrapped plastic around it so it wouldn't dry out so quickly.

 

Smaller pieces we just placed in plastic zip lock bags to cure.

Here Paula is holding up one of the shibori pieces.

Here are some greens that are cured, rinsed,

 and ready for the washing machine and dryer.

They didn't lose any more of their color when washing,

as we used one of those color catchers to find out.

A blue shibori piece done.

This piece was done by just mopping up dye that was in the bucket.

We didn't waste anything.

For this long narrow piece of fabric,

Paula started painting on the dye colors.

She was really getting the hang of it by then.

We used both muslin (pre-washed) and PFD fabric.

Below is what she did to it later after I left to come home.

She said some of the blue came out but it still looks good.

 She used kids coloring books for the patterns,

and then colored it in with crayons,

and outlined with a fabric marker.

Great job Paula!

Can't wait to see the finished baby quilt

and other projects.

I have a feeling Paula will come up with some

very creative things in the future.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne