My dyeing experiment!

About a year ago i bought a book by Frieda Anderson, i love her projects but she uses her own distinct style of dyed fabrics. So today i decided if i could produced the same style. I wont know until tomorrow as the pieces are wrapped in cling film in the airing cupboard. I cant wait to see how they turn out as this was all done by guess work!!!

Polly x

anxious to hear also.... Oh Boy!!!!! what colors did you do?

What did you use for dye, what colours do you expect? Why are they wrapped in the cupboard - sounds funny to read that LOL Tell all!!

I was wondering about the dyes too. I've never heard of wrapping the fabrics in cling wrap/ I know there are much better dyes available than there used to be.
You said you dyed some of the fabrics for your Happy Village quilt? It's beautiful and the colors just glow!
I'm anxious to hear more about your "experiment". I've kept my dying to wool so far. It sure is fun!

what are you dying your wool with Ann?

Be sure to let us see how if goes.

I've used Dylon, Rit dye, and Kool-Aid (fruit drink mix).Those are the only things available locally. There are some really good dyes available through mail order and online though, and I may get into that next Summer. I've learned to keep my dying outside..so the weather is a big factor.

Golo, Gimpy, Annie

They are wrapped in cling film so that the pieces of fabrics don't contaminate each other, and I put them in the airing cupboard because its warm and it may help to develop the colours. But as i said its all guess work...........normally i dye in plastic bags but the method i used yesterday is called space dyeing and i haven't done this before. I wanted a streaked effect with two different colours running into each each other.

The dyes i use are Procyon cold water dyes which i do have to mail order. But quite often at quilt shows they sell them and at reduced prices so i stock up when i can. I did find out though that the Dylon cold water dyes are the same as Procyon dyes. I put a picture of the pieces before wrapped them in the gallery.

The colours i wanted were ....greens running into blues, yellows running into green, yellows running into orange, reds running into purples etc. Also i find it hard to mix the perfect brown, because I only use 3 primary colours. So i tried with the left over dyes to make a brown.....but i got a lovely rust colour and some sludgy greeny/greys which i am sure i will find a use for lol

Right i am so impatient........i will finish this cuppa then i am going to start rinsing them...at 6.38 in the morning.....i must be MAD!! will be back with the results (fingers crossed)

Polly x

Well the results are in........some good, some not so good, so some tweaking needed. I have put three of the best in the gallery.

Polly x

I took a peek..they sure are pretty! I'm interested in how you did them. Did you dip one end in a color then the other end in a different color and let it drip down..or squirt the dyes on? The pieces of "space dyed" fabrics look yummy. I want to open them out! LOL I think one of the neat things about dying is that you don't know what you're going to get. You have to go into with a "let's just see" attitude. Those muddy colors may be just the right thing in a project? I recently did some wool and wanted a nice rich Sunflower gold and some oranges. I mixed and dipped..and over dyed until I had a nice variety. I think brown would be hard? Even the fabric manufacturers seem to have a hard time with brown? So much of what I see in the stores is too muddy or flat for my liking. I like warm browns.
I think the Procyon dyes are the ones I had seen mentioned in an article I read a while back. It was said that the fabrics hold their color pretty good with it. Still..I think I'd be nervous the first time I washed something made with the home dyed fabrics?

Annie
You almost got it spot on but that was the method I first used. but I wasn't too happy with the results. So today I did some more, this time I dyed the base colour first then when that was set I let the fabric soak up the second colour and then pleated the fabric and let it rest for 4 hours. I also increased the amount of dye I used. These pieces are now drying and I cant wait to see how they have come out....but so far they look OK.

The good thing about dyeing is that even if you are not happy with the results you can always re-dye the fabric. But it is very exciting seeing how they turn out. Its a very messy pastime but I love it. Now I need to sew all these fabrics!!

I have never dyed wool. Do you have to do that in the microwave?

Polly x

Polly..I wish I was there with when you open out your fabrics! LOL
I just did some more wool yesterday. I wanted olive-ish greens for applique. I just take my dye pot outside and put the wet wool in and cover with just enough water to cover. Then I mix my dye up with hot water. I was using the Dylon. You just add the dye to the pot and stir for a bit and then let it sit for about 45 min..stirring occasionally. The letting it sit gives the wool a little bit of a mottled effect which is desirable for adding depth to the finished applique. Our weather is turning cooler here and I wanted to get it done so I'd have it this Winter!
It is messy so that's why I do it outside. It's fun too!
Have you ever done a gradation of a color..where you mix your dye, dye your first piece, then dilute it..dye a piece..and continue until you have several shades of one color? I'm going to do that next Summer. It will be wonderful for applique.

Polly,
Your fabric is lovely. The more i see hand dyed the more I want to give it a try! Are you making these for a specific project?
Ann,
What are you planning to do with your woolen dyed fabric?
I bought a sun dye kit last summer and failed to do anything with it. I'm not sure but I think you need strong sun, I may need to wait till next summer to give it a try.

Your fabric is looking good... did you dye the fabric you used for your angels??? nice !!

I have a couple of applique projects going. One is the Oak Leaf I did the wool appique tutorial on. I needed more of the green for borders.
I also have a sampler I've been working on. I enjoy the wool applique because you don't have to turn under the edges or finish them off with FELTED wool. Any applique design could be done with felted wool. I'd like to do a project with sunflowers. Maybe once I get these other two done?

Annie.........wouldn't it be fun to have a girly dyeing day. I can just imagine all the Oooo's and Ahhhh's. Oh and the and Yuks lol. I have done colour graduation and there are two ways. The one you mentioned and another is to put the other fabrics in the dye solution at half hourly intervals as the dye looses its strength gradually until about 4 hours when it stops working altogether. I mix all the dyes outside then put them in jars. I have to do the dyeing in the kitchen but have to remove everything in site so nothing gets contaminated. My kitchen always looks squeaky clean when i have been dyeing!

Chris.......I am doing these fabrics for a project in Frieda Anderson's Book. But the amount of work getting ready to dye I end up doing as much as i can until I have run out of either fabric to dye or the dye itself.

Golo.....most of the fabrics are mine. However I do have to sometimes buy fabric if I cant find the right colour. I would say I use about 80% of hand dyed fabrics. The reason I got into dyeing was because of the price of quilting fabrics here in the uk. About £13 a meter!!!