A Good Day To Dye.....

Yesterday was so lovely in the morning. Sunny and clear. I did some housework, Steven cut the grass. He is off Fridays now, like me, due to the cuts companies are making. It was nice being home with him. He fixed my car (it had a leaking gas line, for months, I thought he was waiting to see if I went up in flames before he fixed it) and I prepared a dye bath for some fabrics I had, and some I bought the other day when I was out with a friend at the Salvation Army store. 

As you may have read below my friend in Tennessee sent me a box of trims. I wanted to make her something. I was inspired by my friend Nancy VanHoose who is taking a class with K C Willis. I would LOVE to take the class too, but with less money coming in right now, and my daughters college to pay for, it will have to wait a bit (however I am trying to win a chance!). Yet, how I could look at the beautiful work Nancy is doing and not want to make something? Then all that trim my friend Cathy sent just begging to be used gave me the added motivation.

I prepared a dye bath, Rit Dye, Tan (do not use the dark brown, it turns things purple!). Although it worked well, it lacked the right hue I was trying to achieve. So I tried Coffee staining next. Well I liked it much more, it was much easier to control.  I think I prefer the Dye, I read the acids in the coffee can deteriorate the fabric over time.  I will just have to experiment with colors another time. My neighbors must have thought I was nutty, hanging bunches of stained, torn pieces of fabric outside. 

I foolishly thought, "this won't take long", wrong! It took almost all day. At the end of the day though, there was some lovely aged fabric and trim. I laid out some of them to start a project. Now that I know which ones I want to use, we can begin. The striped fabric is from two sheets,  some of the trim from Cathy, and the bottom of an old pillowcase.( I also found a couple jewelry pieces to use as accents).....

I dyed a lot of trim, and got all levels of stain depending on how long I left fabric in the dye, and how much I rinsed it. I found this vintage skirt at the local Salvation Army, I love the dusky color it got. I bought some pretty pearl cotton to add accents.

I think I love what the coffee dye does to silk flowers the best. They look all aged and rustic...

So today, after I clean the bathrooms (yuk I hate this job) I will start cutting and sewing.....