Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!: flat dyeing

Monday, August 28, 2017

Results of learning to dye fabric

I did it! All the fabric has been dyed. The drying of the fabric actually took two days - much longer than the dying process. I guess when they say that you can leave your fabric to dry on the table between sheets of plastic, they mean that you can do this if it's hot outside. I guess a high of 20 C (68 F) and a low of 14 C (57 F) just doesn't cut it!

The fabric on the table didn't dry - it was too cool outside.

The fabrics looked great on the table but only the bottom ones were slightly dry - the rest were still dripping!

Fabric drying in the sun

In mid-morning, I placed plastic sheets on the ground, in the sunlight, and very carefully transferred the fabric from the table to the plastic.

The fabric on the left was originally a white-on-white.

I even had to hang one piece since I didn't have enough plastic! Once the smaller pieces were dry, I was able to rotate them. Within two hours, everything was dry.

A very colourful yard!

I think I was supposed to start by rinsing the fabrics individually to get rid of the excess dye....oops! I put everything in the washing machine with some fixative and two dye catcher sheets. I washed in hot and rinsed in cold - twice. The third time I washed them only in cold - by then the dye catchers were almost white. Since these fabrics will be used for art quilts, I think that this is good enough!

Lots of yummy fabrics to play with now!

My final fabrics are a little brighter than in the pictures. These are some of my favourites! You can see the see-through cotton on the fence. Below are two pieces of the cheese cloth.

Finished hand-dyed cheese cloth and cotton.

I now also have some very lovely pink gardening pants and rags :-)

What I learned

Because I was nervous about the whole process, I spent all my time planning the dyeing part. I should have spent a little more time on the details of what to do after it was all dyed!
The fabric is lovely, though perhaps a little on the extremely colourful side - nothing subtle this time around.
It would be lovely to work with only a couple of colours but with more shades.
I'll be checking out the internet to see what fibre artists do with their dyed fabric!
I dyed some cheese cloth as well as some rather see-through cotton. These are my favourites! This was not what I expected.
I would love to dye some organza and such...and of course more cheese cloth.
Since fall is almost here, the next time I dye fabric will likely be indoors. I plan to make something with my hand-dyed fabric before I dye more, but I think that it's safe to say that I will be doing this again.
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me. It was a wonderful learning experience.

Related links
Posts of my dyeing experience

Learning QAL - August Goal Setting, July 31, 2017
Learning QAL - August Sum Up, Augusty 24, 2017

Linking Parties: Since it's my party and someone has to show up :-) I'll be linking to the Learning QAL - August Sum Up. I will also be linking to many fun linking parties. Check them out! Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday,

Don't forget to plan your September Learning Goal for the Learning QAL. Join in the fun - learn something new, share with the community and maybe even win a prize!

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Learning QAL - August Sum Up

Welcome to the first

Learning Quilt-A-Long Sum Up post and link-up.

My learning goal for August was to dye my own fabric! This was big! I was nervous! The actual dyeing was almost anti-climactic :-) Isn't it typical to see new things as complicated and difficult?

Learning to dye fabric

I approached it as I mentioned in my goal setting post.

I started by reading a couple of books and blogs, and watching some YouTube videos. I have listed my favourites resources in the Related Links section below.
I bought some supplies since the measuring cup, funnel, measuring spoons and whisk shouldn't be used for cooking any more.
I already had my kit and some fabrics but bought a little bit more :-) and raided my stash for a few fat quarters.
I made notes - lost the notes and re-wrote more notes!
I washed all of the fabric last week, even the Prepared For Dyeing (PFD). After reading all kinds of advice, I just used my usual unscented laundry soap.

Fabric pile ready to dye

I put away all of the laundry in the laundry room so that nothing could get accidentally dyed.
I mixed the soda ash with the warm water (about one cup for a little more than a gallon), unfolded the fabric and placed it all in the mix.
I set everything up on the top of the washer and dryer, with rags under everything.
As suggested, I misted the rags so that the dye powders would stick to them rather than float in the air. That was a very valuable tip. You can see from the picture below that the rag underneath the jars is quite colourful from dye powder that stuck to the wet rag.
You can also see that my two cups measurement was pretty uneven.

Black, fuchsia, yellow and turquoise prepared dyes

My supplies and prepared dyes on the washer and dryer

It was now time to take everything outside.

I placed my old picnic table in the sun and then covered it with plastic.
From the original yellow, turquoise and fuchsia dye mixes, I made purple with the turquoise and fuchsia; and green with the yellow and turquoise. I realised half way through the day that I had forgotten to make orange dye.
I placed some of each dye in the plastic squirt bottles for easier application.

Dyes ready to use

Table set up in the sun

Then the real work began!

I took fabric out of the soda ash water, wrung it and then placed it on the plastic covered table.
I found that the hardest part of dyeing fabric was to decide what colours to use. The only piece that I used just one colour on was a fat quarter that I dyed purple, since I had lots left near the end of the day.
I tried to dye the fabric with colours that might be used for landscape art quilts. Of course, if I don't like all of the colours on one piece, I can always cut it up.
I did a few pieces the way Sharon Collins makes them, by applying different colours of dye on half of the fabric and then folding the other half over it to get a mirror effect.

I have no idea what I was thinking!
The picture was taken before I covered it with plastic and spread it out.
Let's hope for the best :-)

The fabrics are white on white.
I heard that you can get nice effects by dyeing them.

As I look at the pictures I took of the fabric with dye on it, I'm not sure what to expect. I may have gone a little too crazy with the colours. Oh well, this is what learning is about!

I wish that I could show you the results in this post, but the fabric is still outside. I placed the table where it will get maximum sunlight. I will be removing the fabrics tomorrow and then washing it.

Fabric dyed and waiting to dry.

What I learned

Dyeing fabric is a lot of work, but I'm sure that it gets easier with practice!
I'm really glad that I misted my work space with water since I got dye powder on the rags. I should have known since I always get flour and sugar all over everything when I bake!
I should have cut my plastic pieces before starting to dye - and I should have used heavier plastic. I did use medium weight but I think that heavy weight would probably not have wrinkled as much when placed on top of the fabric. I'm not sure what effect this will have on the dyed fabric. I guess we'll see soon enough!
I'm happy to say that I wore my plastic gloves most of the day. I did take them off to arrange the cheese cloth on the table, and then only used one gloved hand to apply the dye. Since most of it was fuchsia, the pink doesn't look too bad on my fingers - and most of it washed out after a shower and doing some dishes.
Next time I will probably dye a smaller batch of fabric. I was tired about half way through dyeing my fabrics.
Next time I also want to think more about the colours and the effects that I want to achieve on the fabric since I won't be so worried about the process.
I still have some dye mix ready to use. From everything that I've read, it seems to keep from 1 to 5 weeks.

Related Links