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!