A Good Day to Dye

On Saturday I attended an Indigo Dyeing workshop at the Mariner's Museum!  Full disclosure - I did steal the title of my blog post from another clever participant. 

My spoils of the day

I had an absolute blast, and got so inspired by all of the beautiful patterns that everyone came up with!  I wish I had gotten pictures of them all, but I was too busy having fun to take many pictures at all.

Here's what I did get:

Our presenters, Lauren and Wisteria, show off the shirts they dyed in last year's class, as well as some of their designs on cloth:

I unfortunately missed the beginning of the presentation, but there was a slideshow of indigo dyeing from around the world, a bit about the history of indigo, and everyone got a handout with a book list for further study.  They also passed around several examples of really gorgeous indigo pieces like this one from Thailand:

I meant to go back and take photos of all of the examples, but I got so engrossed in the dyeing process that I forgot.

Everyone got 5 cotton napkins to experiment with, and we were also encouraged to bring our own pieces from home.  I brought three different fabrics, but I'll get to them later.

Lauren showed us how to go about dipping our pieces:

The dye vats were three five-gallon buckets that had been prepared ahead of time.  Each had formed a "bloom" on top:

But when you dipped your cloth into it...

...it was green underneath!

Reminded me of a blueberry.

 The cloth would also be green, initially.

But with exposure to the air, the dye would begin to oxidize, and you could see it turn blue before your eyes:

They had provided several different materials for us to use to make patterns on our cloth, such as clothspins, rubber bands, wood blocks, popsicle sticks, yarn, and Elmer's glue.

I started with the glue, because I knew it would need to dry before I could dunk it.  I thought it would be fun to get a resist pattern, so I had to try it.  I improvised a flower design, which is very hard to see here:

And here is how it looked after dyeing, rinsing, and taking it home where it was washed with mild detergent and dryed:

Not all of the glue had fully dried before I dyed it, so the one corner got a bit smudged.

One of the slides in the presentation was my inspiration for two of my other napkins - I was going for the upper left and lower right images:

For the upper left image, I used rubber bands to take up concentric circles:

Which took forever!  And tons of rubber bands.  I was busy doing this while everyone else was already dyeing, and I kept running out of rubber bands and ended up pilfering used ones from other people - which is why some of them are blue:

I didn't notice one of my rubber bands had popped off until after I dyed it.

And for the lower right image, I attempted to pleat my napkin into tiny little accordion pleats.  It was rather difficult to get them to stay, and I didn't want to bind them with rubber bands or anything that would prevent the dye from penetrating.  The best idea I could come up with was to twist it around on itself and hold the two ends together with one rubber band.

I had tied/looped long strands of yarn on each so that I could easily fish them out of the bucket, as I had seen some other participants doing.  First they got dunked in clear water to wet them thoroughly:

Then into the bucket they went!

After the first dip, you can see they were quite green:

But the blue color came out pretty quickly as I held them in the air:

Back in for another dunk:

And popped on a tray to carry to the sink:

I gave them both a quick rinse before undoing my bindings.

The back side of the left one looked like clumsy smocking:  

And here is how they turned out:  

For my final two napkins, I used clothespins.  I had admired another participant's flower-like designs on her napkins, so she showed me how she got them.  Here is my attempt at recreating the look:

It came out like this:

And for the final one I went with an accordion pleat and parallel rows of clothespins:

It ended up being one of my favorite ones!

I had brought three pieces of fabric from home - a yard of plain cotton voile to make into an 18th-Century kerchief, which I attempted to dye an even, pale blue.  I ended up dipping it twice because the color did not come out evenly the first time, so it's darker than I intended: 

But still pretty.

Then I had about a yard and a half of striped cotton voile left from making my Sheer Striped Gown, which I wanted to dye a deep, rich, dark blue.  I think I succeeded: 

This was when it was still wet, of course.  Here it is dry: 

I plan to make this into a Regency dress for Reptar.  It's still fairly sheer, so I'll need to make her a shift, too: 

My final piece was about a yard and a half of polished cotton, leftover from the lining of the curtains I used to make my Gold Francaise Gown.  I wanted a fun pattern on this one, so I started with a diagonal fold: 

I then folded accordion pleats once again, and when I got it all pleated I folded the entire thing in half down the length, making sure the long center section was on the outside where it would absorb the most dye.  And I made a pattern of clothespins along the edges: 

And this is the result: 

I was very happy with this piece!  I think I'm going to make it into a skirt. 

Of course now I want to dye ALL OF THE THINGS! I may have to see about getting my own indigo dyeing kit someday.

Dyed Yellow Gloves

I've had a small collection of vintage gloves for a few years now, and I've recently toyed with the idea of dyeing some of them to disguise the effects of ageing and give them new life.  I've also been wanting some fun, brightly colored gloves for my Regency costuming.  So this pair of embroidered gloves seemed like a good place to start. 

Since they had already developed some yellowish spots, I thought I'd embrace it and make them completely yellow!

I used RIT dyes in Golden Yellow and Tangerine (just a splash).  I dyed two pairs of gloves in total, but I forgot to take "before" photos of the second pair.  I really like how they turned out:

The shorter pair is a bit too small for me (they might have been too small before, but I think they the hot water dye also shrank them a bit) and there are a few popped seams that I need to fix:

I might end up selling them on Etsy.  But the embroidered gloves I'm keeping.  I love them!

I think dyeing them makes the embroidery - and especially the beading - more dramatic.

I wore them with my new Straw Bonnet for a recent Fall photo shoot, as seen above. 

Printing and Painting and Dyeing, Oh My!

I haven't been terribly prolific in the sewing department recently, but I have been VERY adventurous with color!  First I broke out my print block, with great success.  I'm still sitting on the in-progress photos of the item I am making from my newly printed fabric, but I am not above sharing a teaser shot that makes it look like I am really good at matching prints:

Then my birthday gift from Brian the Engineer arrived - ivory Hartfields!  I wore them around the house for three or four hours after opening the package, and honestly forgot that I had them on a couple times.  They are very comfortable.  :)

But I was not about to let them stay ivory forever.  After admiring them for a couple more days, I broke out the second part of my gift - a shoe painting kit, and got to work.  I mixed paint for about an hour before I was satisfied with the shade.  I was aiming for a deep, warm butterscotch color and trying to avoid mustard.  :p  When I was finally happy with the color (mostly sick of mixing paint) I followed the American Duchess tutorial for the painting process.  Sorry there are no in-progress photos, but I was focused on painting!  :(

I was pleased to see that after it dried, the honey-mustard colored paint I had ended up with did deepen and darken as it dried to more of a Werther's hard candy color.  And the more I looked at it, the more I loved it!

After three thin coats I let them dry overnight.  In the morning I liked the color even better, and I could also tell it needed one more coat.  After that dried I put on the finisher and started thinking about how best to dye the shoelaces to match the new color of the boots.

I had a couple of things I'd been meaning to dye that I'd been putting off for a while, and I decided to do both of them and the shoelaces all at once.

The first thing was a white ostrich feather that I had vague ideas about using on a bonnet.  For some reason I wanted it gold.  I will admit here and now that I had no idea how to go about dyeing a feather.  I still don't know.

I used Lemon Yellow and Tangerine RIT dyes.  This is how it looks now, after it has dried completely.  I cannot seem to get it to fluff back up again, so my thought is that there is still dye that needs to be rinsed out, possibly?  Anyway, it was a learning experience.  I moved on, as I had bigger fish to fry.

Next were the shoelaces.  To the previous orangey attempt at gold, I added more Lemon Yellow, more Tangerine, and just a splash of Kelly Green to tone down the brightness.  I also added more water and salt to the dye pot, mixed it more thoroughly, and tested strips of white cotton muslin before I decided I was satisfied with the color.  The shoelaces took the dye much more readily than the muslin, and when I rinsed them out they resembled whole wheat spaghetti!  But I was ok with them being more brown than orange.  I just didn't want them to clash horribly with the boots.  I let them dry for a full day, and lo and behold!

Once dry, they were the perfect color!  I was not expecting that.  :p

But I still had more dyeing to do.  This one was the big one, both in size and in scope.  Remember my green straw bonnet from last year?  Well, I loved it and all, but I wanted to be able to wear it with more things.  Specifically, this green ribbon sash I bought from Dames a la Mode:

See how horribly the two greens clashed?  Also, I wanted more contrast between the bonnet and my Blue Day Dress, since it looked too much like I was trying to match it and had failed.  So I decided to dye the bonnet to match the ribbon!  I knew it would be tricky, as taffeta catches the light so differently from cotton, but I would settle for a close approximation.

To my brownish-gold dye bath I added copious amounts of Kelly Green, testing swatches and adding more Lemon Yellow until I ran out entirely, at which point I began praying that I hadn't added too much green too fast.  I decided to be brave and test a scrap of the bonnet fabric, and it didn't look too bad!  I had actually been nervous that the bonnet fabric wouldn't take dye properly, as I'm not sure it's 100% cotton.  But it took beautifully!  I think I added a dash more Tangerine and then tested another scrap, this time taking it to the iron to dry it so I could see the final color.  It wasn't perfect, but I decided it was as close as I was likely to get!

Left to right:  undyed scrap, first and second test scraps, final color, ribbon of goal color

The moment of truth had arrived.  I prepped the bonnet by running it under hot water, being sure to saturate every part so that it would absorb the dye evenly.  (I forgot to mention I also did this with the shoelaces and feather before dyeing them.)  Then I gently added it to the dye pot gently simmering on the stove, and poked it down with a wooden spoon until it was thoroughly soaked.  After a few agonizing minutes of stirring constantly to ensure no part was left un-dyed, I took it out and rinsed it forever and ever under hot running water.  Then when I was satisfied(ish) that no more dye was coming out, I switched to cold water and continued rinsing to help set the dye.

(It is here that I will point out that before I started my dyeing shenanigans, I ran my plans past Brian the Engineer.  He warned me that the straw part would likely not take the dye in the same way as the fabric part, and that I might not like the result.  I assured him that I was prepared for this to not go as planned, and if it was an utter failure I would just make a new bonnet.  However, I was anticipating that the straw part would, in fact, absorb no dye as I was sure that it was not a natural fiber.  But I am pleased to say that we were both wrong!  Well, I was more wrong than he was.  :p  The straw DID absorb the dye in much the same way as the fabric, and I DID like the result!)

I was worried initially that I had let it soak too long, as it was much darker and greener than I was going for.  But I did know that I needed to let it dry before I could determine the final color.  Being impatient, I threw the thing in the dryer with a towel to help it along.  I am pleased to say that I LOVE the final color!  It is as close as I could have gotten to the ribbon sash, and I think it makes the design look much more cohesive and planned-out.  I do love it when things work out that way.  :)

It looks like a completely different bonnet!  For reference:

I'm definitely liking the new look better.  :D  And look at all of the things it matches now!

I am midway through hemming the paisley shawl, and I've worn the ribbon sash and the gloves together previously.

Before I poured my hard-earned dye lot down the drain, I threw in my remaining scraps of pre-pleated fabric leftover from making the bonnet.

I plan to use these to create fun shoe clip decorations for my Pemberlies.  Of course, it may be a while before I wear them again, as my gorgeous new Hartfields currently hold most of my shoe-related affection.

So pretty!  

I can't wait to wear them out and about!  :D  And now that I have the shoe-painting kit, my fingers are itching to start painting my other four pairs of American Duchess shoes...  Pinterest, here I come!