Pages

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Fabric Dyeing

Before the cooler autumn weather started coming, I was able to get in some fabric dyeing.  I dye fabric in my garage and on the driveway so the temperatures need to be above 70 degrees.

This year I only had about about 10 yards of white fabric to start with.  I did not purchase more. Instead, I pulled out some of the fabrics I know have been sitting on my shelf for some time to over-dye.

Here are some of those old fabrics.


Why did I pull these?  There were several reasons.  I pulled out fabrics that I thought were very similar to another color I already had.  When I started dyeing my own fabric, I created a much more mottled look.  Now, I like to work with more solid color.  So, I pulled out some of the very mottled ones.  Those would need to be over-dyed with a much darker color.  I also pulled colors that I didn't think I would use or didn't appeal to me.  Some colors were just too bright and I wanted to tone them down a bit.  You don't always know exactly what color you get until the end when the fabric is rinsed and dried.  Sometimes I make something I don't like.

Work in progress.


And here are the colors I ended up with.  I think, overall, I am happier with the new colors.



They will get integrated back unto the shelves and, hopefully, get used!  I also had some muslin scraps that I had brought home from the museum left over from covering pedestal tops.  Here is how they turned out, along with a few more over-dyes.


Most of these are smaller pieces and some have holes in them or marks that I will need to work around.  But I am happy to be able to get some use out of the fabric that otherwise would have ended up in the trash can.

2 comments:

gayle said...

Sorry, I commented under the wrong photo. I liked seeing all your fabrics. I use vat dyes. See other comment under Nia photo.

Lisa Flowers Ross said...

Gayle, I use a low water immersion technique that does not require a vat. It means I have to manipulate the fabric more to get it really solid but I can also do less for a more mottled look.