First Attempts at dyeing fabric

Happy Monday to all.

I wanted some purple and orange fabric and thought to dye it myself. I collected a few pieces of fabric from my stash to conduct my first experiments. I used Rit and Tintex powdered dyes. I followed the directions published by Rit Dye for low-water immersion. Here is the link to the Rit Dye techniques - http://www.ritdye.com/dyeing-techniques . Here is the site for Tintex. They produce other products as well, such as paints.http://www.tintex.com.au/ .Tintex also had a link to another web site that would answer questions related to dyeing: http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml. This last site has gobs of information and I can't wait to study what is on this site.

The results you see below were achieved quickly, with  little to no measuring. I did make the following mistakes: I placed my fabric too close to the mixing bowl and did get powdered dye on the fabric (hence the tiny little purple spot on the periwinkle fabric). When using bleach, be very careful to dilute the bleach before using so you do not get concentrated bleach spots on the fabric (hence the white spots on the dark purple fabric). More on how I achieved the effects in the captions following the pics. I recommend that you try this at home. Its very simple, requires little to no set up and the results are practically instantaneous. Next, I will be trying to figure out how to get a mottled effect with two or more colors while still keeping the colors pure.

This is a mottled orange. I used Tintex yellow and red, mixed it by sprinkling tiny little amounts of the powder, alternating between the red and the yellow until I got the colour I wanted. I used a white plastic spoon to mix and lift a little into the light. I did this more like an artiste than a chemist, so no measuring here. I only used about 1-1/2 cups of hot water, smooshed the wadded up material into the dye and microwaved for 1 minute. I had a lot of white areas after rinsing it so I stuck it back in the dye bath for another turn and voila a lovely orange! I am calling this "Oh No you didn't".

I wanted this to be a bit more purple but I sprinkled in to much royal blue and didn't want to keep adding purple because I did not want a darker color, so I left it the way it was. I used Rit Dye in Royal Blue and Purple and the same sprinkle method as used for "Oh No you didn't". If you look closely at the top, you will see one little purple spot. Not sure how this happened but I think I got some of the purple powder on it as I was tearing the package open (use scissors!). Despite the spot, I just love this color. I am calling this one "What are you looking at?"

I used Rit Dye in Purple here and used a teaspon of dye, as I wanted a very, very deep color. Of course, a teaspoon was way too much! I then diluted a little bleach (2;1 bleach:water) and dabbed it  with a sponge while the fabric was still wet. I sprayed diluted bleach on the fabric too, and that's how I got the little white spots towards the top. I was very upset but then realized that they looked like stars, so I will put a crescent moon next to the spots and it will look like the spots were intended. I am calling this one "You there, come here!". When using bleach (not recommended) be sure to rinse and rinse as the bleach will eat away at your fabric over time. Time will tell what this piece will look like in a few years.

The two purple pieces were Lugana and the orange is Aida. I like the way the Aida "grabbed" the dye and survived the rough handling. The Lugana fuzzed up a bit from all of the handling and became very soft. I was a bit more gentle with the periwinkle piece so it did not fuzz up as much.

OK, so that's it for now. Have a go at this and see how much fun it is! Let me know if you try dyeing for yourself and share your results with me, please.

Happy Stitching!

Crochet, Silk Fibers, Tabloid and Hamsters

Here is a pic of She-ra and He-man, while they sleep. I've always been a dog woman, but these little fellas are just too cute!

This is the most complicated piece of crochet I have ever made. Crocheting is easy, it's the instructions that make no sense, since they assume one understands how to construct garments and what-not, but these instructions were fairly logical. I am very happy with the result. I got this as a free pattern from FaveCraft.com. It's called Belle Fleure Scarf.  I used less expensive acrylic and darker colors as I wanted more of fall look. I have made many flowers to decorate purses, sweater collars and all sorts of things. Just pin the flower using a safety pin and you can change the flower whenever you please. Here is the link to the scarf crochet instructions: http://www.favecrafts.com/Crochet-Hats-Scarves-Gloves/Belle-Fleur-Scarf/ct/1

Janet, the proprietor of The Cross Stitch Station, in Doral, Florida introduced me to this quarterly publication "Spool". Each issue includes interviews with designers and creators, and provides patterns for needlepoint, crochet, knitting, cross stitch, felting, sewing and other needle arts. The current Winter Issue has mostly knit and crochet projects so I was bit disappointed, but the prior issues had a nice balance of projects. I was unable to procure the Fall Edition, unfortunately. I highly recommend this publication if you like to do different types of needle arts. It's modern and fresh! Check it out: http://spoolmag.com/

This design was a shop freebie from Blue Ribbon Designs. I used Vicki's Hand-dyed Fibers, in Caribbean Reef. For a while, before the economy took a dive, I subscribed to Vicki's monthly floss club where she would send about 12 tags/spools of her silks.  I built up quit a nice stash that way and now am able to use silk for virtually any graph I want.

This little guy is from Tams Creations, Autumn Variations Biscornu Pattern No.3. I substituted the DMC floss with Hand-dyed Fibers. I used Beehived, Old Maid of the Sea, Marquie de Cercles and Gandy Tango. The pattern did not call for any outlining but in hindsight, the acorns around the middle should have been outlined, especially the acorn caps (or whatever they are called).

This came from The Gift of Stitching, its the Assisi Pin Cushion but I turned it into a scissor fob. I also used Hand-dyed Fibers, Garnet and Magpie Warbles. Its on 18 count Aida and I used 2 threads for the cross stitches.

 This is one of my favorite pieces. Its the Oriental Fish designed by Marie Barber and published by Just Cross Stitch in the May/June 2009 issue. It's stitched on Golden Sand, 32 count using DMC floss. Who stitches fishes? Me, that's who! I love oriental themes but was tired of the the geishas and vases with flowers and then I found this. POW! It reminded me of the Japanese paintings done on gilded wood panels. Lovely.

Well, that's if for now. I will be dyeing some fabric this weekend and will post results of that experiment next week. Thanks for visiting and have yourself a wonderful week end.

Wherefore are thou, Autumn?

I am missing the first stirrings of Autumn in a terrible way. Living in Miami means it's still about 85 degrees here, hot and muggy and thoughts of hot cocoa make me want to grab an iced tea instead! On-line and on TV folks are talking about Fall meals, and on craft sites they are putting yarns up for sale and are peddling instructions for sweaters, mittens and scarves...unfortunately, I will be wearing sleeveless shirts and flip flops well into November. The itch for Autumn means that I turn my house into the very embodiment of Autumn by pulling out the harvest themed knick-knacks and table settings and spraying pumpkin-spice air freshener all around the house (much to the consternation of my husband, who is a native of Miami and just doesn't understand.) Of course, a warm Halloween means that we can all wear proper costumes without the parkas and boots underneath. Anyway, hope your Autumn is rich, and blessed and filled with love, as mine will be, even in Miami.

Latest Finishes

The top is from Just Cross Stitch and now resides in my children's room. I added a dragon fly brass charm on the right. The bottom is from the Sweetheart Tree. The bees here are done over one and I just loathed stitching them so I substituted the last one with a bee button.

WIPs

The one on top is Cross Stitch and Needlework magazine's "Halloween Fairy" and the bottom one is "This is the Day" from Just Cross Stitch magazine. This bottom one is my very first sampler and I must say that I now understand the appeal of samplers. I am a rather sloppy stitcher and find myself compensating for errors, hence the tree in the sampler is very different from the one in the chart. Although I thought it looked better. This sampler is worked on 40 count linen - my first time using such fine count but likely not my last, now that I know that I can do it. It has some areas worked over one and guess what? Its virtually impossible to frog anything worked over one thread on 40 count!!!

Cross Stitch Projects

I went thru a Turkey craze last year and these are the three turkeys I finished in 2010.The one on the left is a JBW design and the two on the right are from Cross Stitch and Needlework magazines. I added the buttons. Aren't they cute?

Cross Stitch Projects

Hello all, hope it's a good Monday for everyone. Here is my tuffet (biscornu) collection. Those of you that subscribe to the digital magazine The Gift of Stitching might recognize the bottom center one, bottom right, the top right one and the littlest one from the magazine. The one on the top left, with the red lobsters, is a freebie from Ink Circles.