Early in October I joined some quilt friends of mine to dye Shibori fabric. Our friend Jo has the most wonderful dying backyard. A little pun there, as her backyard is wonderfully overgrown with plants, trees and bushes. Isn’t this a fabulous place to hang out for the day? Jo has all the tables, buckets, equipment and dyes required along with chairs to rest in while you are waiting for your dyed fabrics to “cook”.
Jo is an expert on various types of dyeing. Last summer I dyed these fabrics in her backyard.
And so far, I have made these two quilts with these yummy fat quarters.
“Jolly Ranchers” …. And “Straight To The Heart”
If you are interested in owning either of these quilts, you can find them in my SHOP.
This time I wanted to dye some Shibori fabrics. I bought three yards of white, ready-to-dye fabric from Jo and tore the three yards into half yard and fat quarter sized pieces. Then I set to work folding clamping, twisting and experimenting. Of course, we used highly specialized tools; canning jar lids, cardboard cut into triangles and squares, rubber bands, ceramic tiles, clothespins, wine corks, beads, washers and so much more.
Each wrapped fabric bundle needs to sit in a bucket of water for at least 30 minutes before being put into the dye bucket. They sit in the dye bucket for 30 minutes and then they are pulled out. When they come out of the dye bucket they are green.
These dyed bundles sit in the air turning blue, then once they are blue they go back into the dye bucket for another 30 minutes.
After that I unwrapped them and got to see what I had created! I learned that the dye doesn’t soak into the entire piece, especially if the bundle is tightly wound or folded. A couple of pieces I refolded and dyed again. It was a sunny day, so I laid some of the pieces out on the lawn to dry.
Some of my pieces were hung on the clothesline along with my friend’s pieces. Now that I’ve done this once, I will know better next time what to do differently. Some of my friends dyed baby onesies, T-shirts and even Pashmina shawls they got for $2 at a local craft store!
When I got home I ironed the fabric to set the dye. Then I washed them in my washer on hot water with Synthrapol, and dried them in the dryer. I ironed them again and put them up on my design wall to enjoy. I have been planning, thinking and dreaming of the quilt I will make!
Thanks for stopping by…
geneva