Fabric Dyeing Class

Yesterday I went to a fabric dyeing class - and it was a blast! This was the first time I actually used proper dye, not watered down fabric paint! I tried a few different techniques and some came out great and some weren't so hot. Let me tell you (and show you) what I did.

We were using Procion dyes and the teacher had mixed 10 colors up for each of us. She also provided the soda ash solution (which activates the dye and makes it take - I think). Made mixing the colors interesting because she didn't give us just the primary colors - she had made blends.

We started by taking our dye and squirting a few drops into a cup and adding 1/4 cup of water. Then we took our wet fabric (we were using fat quarters) and crinkled it up and stuffed it into a container (like yogurt or margerine ones). Then we poured the dye over the fabric, squished it around, and added 1/4 cup of soda ash solution. This is how that came out. It's okay but not vibrant. I think it's because it was so diluted. We had no idea how much dye to squirt in the cup before we aded the water so it was a guessing game. Because the fabric was all squished and crinkled it gave it that marbled effect. The green one was kind of chartreuse in the cup but it dried to this pukey shade, sigh.

I did the same thing with some white-on-white fabric. The design really stands out. The color was kind of blotchy on these although I don't know why. But they are still neat.

Then we made what the teacher called a parfait. We took three pieces of fabric - squished one up and put it in the bottom of a tall container. I put fuschia dye on it, then squished up another fat quarter and put it on top, added some fuschia with a few drops of violet, then squished up another and added that to the stack with some violet dye. The dye was supposed to run down through the layers.

Enough of that I thought. It was time to try direct dyeing. To do that we had to soak our fabric in the soda ash solution for about an hour before adding the dye - instead of afterwards. Then we just took the dye bottles and squirted the dye right on the fabric. You can get more vibrant colors if you don't screw around like I did, LOL. Look at the photo and then I'll tell you what I did for each one.

Okay - so upper left - I pleated the fabric and then squirted dye on in a random pattern. I used my fingers to try to squish it around but it left blobs in some places. Upper right - the orange one - this one would have been so cool! I pleated it and then used yellows and oranges in circles. It didn't get enough time to dry and I took it home in a plastic bag and the colors ran. It's still pretty though. I'll try this again. Lower left - pleated it again - added a bunch of colors and squished it up. Kind of a fall feeling. Lower right - this one was neat - I twisted the fabric really tightly and then wound it up into a coil. Poured greens and blues on it. After an hour I undid it and there was lots of white, so I took a foam brush and filled in the white streaks with a brilliant green. The corners of this fat quarter are really dark - it's awesome.

Shades of the 60s! Pleated and then dye squirted on in stripes. I sprinkled salt on it to see what it would do but I didn't get the starburst effect. It might have pulled some of the dye to the salt though and that's why the purple and red have lots of white in it. Dunno - would have to do a plain one and a salt one to figure it out.

Well - that's it! I have lots of dye left and another yard or two of fabric so I'll have to try it again in a couple of days. I don't think I'll do the diluted thing again - I liked squeezing it right onto the fabric - brighter colors!

Barb Willis Class tomorrow

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! Barbara Willis is here .. she's going to be teaching us two classes.

Tomorrow night we are playing with paper and fabric and making a 'flat doll'. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will be making her "Whisper" doll. She's a wall doll. She has a regular upper body but her lower body is a balloon of fabric and a tassel hangs from the bottom of it. The part that I'm really looking forward to is learning how to sculpt a face mask with Paperclay.

Here's my fabric choices for the doll. The leaves will be the 'balloon' and the arms, the purple will be the torso, and the shiny yellow-orange will be the corset. I dyed all the trims to match. The antique lace in the bottom of the picture didn't take the color as well as I had hoped but it will help lighten the doll as the main fabric is pretty dark. The ribbon is for her hair.

Click on image to enlarge

A couple of us are going to take Barb sightseeing tomorrow - although there's not a whole lot to see. She wants to come to North Pole, where I live, to go to the Santa Claus House. It's a great gift shop - plus they have reindeer there for people to gawk at. Not sure what else she wants to do - we'll play it by ear!

Yippee - I get to play dolls ALL WEEKEND!!!!!! My bags are packed, I'm ready to go ....

Money Burns

Yesterday the mail lady brought me the fabric for the Money Burns doll. It's not exactly what I expected but it will work. I don't think I've ever ordered fabric on-line and haven't been surprised by at least one of the pieces I received. The images on these pieces were softer and more blurred than I thought they would be - which actually will work better in the long run for what I have in mind. My new mantra is: I must finish one project before I start another .. I must finish one project before I start another .. ARRGH. It'll never happen LOL.

Click on image to enlarge

All shapes and sizes

My little sewing group had a blast today shaping the faces of our trolls to be. We are working on Ute Vasina's Norman pattern which is a little troll dude that sits on a wagon. We all used different fabrics and were amazed at how differently they are turning out. Now - these look a bit strange because there's no coloring or hair yet - not even ears but it's fun to see how although we all used the same pattern none of them are remotely alike!

From left to right ... the little brown dude is made of the new version of doesuede, the next one is made from bucksuede bought at a Ben Franklin Crafts, the next doll is made of original doesuede in a taupe color, and the last one is made of a stretch fabric from JoAnn Fabrics. We all used different size and style eyes too - a couple are made with buttons (last two on right) and then other two are glass eyes of different styles - cat's eyes for one! We had fun with belly buttons too - we changed how we did them from the pattern directions and we also gave them little 'butt dimples'. It's going to be a couple of weeks before we can get together again to work on them but I'll report on their progress then.

Who's Biased?

I recently took a class from Christine Shively and there was something a little off about the doll I made in her class. Took a while to figure it out and it actually was another artist friend of mine who told me.

I had placed the head pattern on the bias and, after stuffing, the head ended up too big for the body. I like to place the head on the bias for 2 or more piece heads since the nose and cheeks fill out better but this doll was a flat face. Even the little bit of extra stuffing was too much for this doll.

So - I'll pop her head off and make a pin doll out of it. Next head will be on-grain!

A fun thing to do to learn about bias is to take a leg pattern piece and place it on the cross-grain, the straight-grain, and the bias. Then sew and stuff.

Look at the difference in the legs when you're done. One will be shorter than the other and one will be fatter. Keep this in mind when you are sewing your dolls.