Recent Dyeing Adventures

Here are a few pics of some dyeing I did while my computer was out of comission. The first piece is a combination of two techniques I learned while taking Marjie McWilliams' Shibori classes on Quilt University. I think it came out pretty cool. If I were to do it again, I would make the center portion (blue) smaller and make my dyes stronger.

Below is a blurry (sorry) photo of a glue resist piece I did with dye rather than the usual paint. I first stamped some flowers onto the white fabric with Elmers Gel Glue. I then dyed the fabric yellow, leaving it in the dye for only a short time so as not to soften the glue. I washed the glue out and had a yellow piece of fabric with white flower areas. I took a different stamp and stamped glue in other areas on the yellow fabric and then overdyed the piece (this time I sponged the dye on rather than immersing it) with a weak red dye. Of course the yellow fabric turned a beautiful orange. When I washed out the glue I had yellow flowers and where the fabric was white from the first stage, I had pink flowers. It's a pretty piece and there's a lot of potential in this technique.

Because I brushed on the pink dye, I got different shades on the piece. I set the piece on some paper towels so that the dye wouldn't run all over the place. I let it dry in place and the paper towels made a really interesting pattern on the back of the fabric ...

My daughter is on a year-round school calendar and she's been out for 3 weeks. She goes back today and my list is ready! I've got 9 weeks to "get 'er done" before she tracks out again. Go Go Go!!!