A Dyeing Experiment

I finally succumbed to the urge to try dyeing fabric. I think it may be addictive.

I used some nice white cotton interlock from Hancock’s and cut it in half to make things more manageable. To make the mokume, or woodgrain pattern, I did a hand running stitch horizontally across each piece, then pulled the threads taut. The dye I was using was Tulip Cool Spray, which is more meant for stencil work, I think, but it had some instructions for a watercolor effect that seemed to imply that the dye would spread better if the fabric was wet. The two pieces were soaking for different times, and I think you can see the differences, in the fabrics if not the pictures. After soaking, I put the fabric on a tomato cage and squirted both sides until everything seemed nicely saturated and left it to set for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, I cut the threads, laid everything out to finish drying, then ran it through the washer and drier. I hope to sew it into a tee this week.

Is it too ’60s?

Some More Jewelry

I made some more jewelry last weekend while watching lame TV. This bracelet is from the Hardwear book and it’s made from clear plastic tubing from the hardware store! It’s about the perfect level of casual for work, and I’ve gotten several compliments on it.

Next, I made a pair of earrings using a pair of disks I made out of scraps from a polyclay project. Sadly, the scraps turned out better than the project, but that’s how life is, isn’t it? And these are bad consolation prizes, even if my wire wrapping looks like I was doing it behind my back:

Summer Pants

In an astonishing display of promptness, I actually made something with fabric purchased in Tulsa on the 17th and wore it to a guild meeting on the 1st! I really, really liked this paisley rayon/linen blend I bought at the Cloth Merchants and whipped up a TNT Burda WOF pattern 5/2005 #137. I fiddled a lot with the crotch curve last time I made the pants and the effort to transfer the changes back to the pattern really paid off — I didn’t have to make a single change, just sew, mark the waistline and race to the finish line. I may be feeling a trifle smug on this score..

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I’m using a side view because I’m particularly impressed with myself on the lovely hang of the pants (which is probably due mostly to the really great fabric which I worked hard not to screw up by cutting off grain).

The side view also shows of the fit of the top, which has a nicely level hem…the holy grail for we busty girls. The pattern is also Burda WOF from a couple of years ago. I cut this one using my usual adjustments, sewed it in a hurry and wore it to the Blue Man Group concert. Very annoying to wear — the hem was wonky and the whole shirt shifted back and forth. While driving home after the concert, I was finally able to put the problem into words, which, as usual, solved it. I walked in the door about midnight, grabbed my pins and pinned 1 inch tucks center front and back. Perfect! After comparing the shirt to the pattern and to another shirt, i decided that blame lay about 25% in the pattern and 75% in the fabric. The fabric is a nifty puckery knit from Needle Nook, and it appears that the fabric is both stretchy from being a knit and stretchy from being puckery and when I cut the fabric it relaxed into a shirt 4 inches too big around. Now that it’s fixed, it’s one of my favorites…almost always in the laundry.

I’ve got some more white knit…need to get it sewn up because you can never have too many white tee shirts!