Sunday, August 28, 2011

660 - Quilting, Binding and Dyeing

Let me start off by saying that this is my 660th post.  I truly cannot believe that I have written that many blog posts.  But that is what Blogger tells me.  
I have had hits from all over the USA, Canada, Italy, Poland, Germany, Australia, the United Kingdom (England , Ireland and Wales that I know of), American Samoa, South Africa, India, the Netherlands, France and Spain.   If your country wasn't listed PLEASE leave a comment and let me know. **edit** Thanks to Maree for reminding me that  I get visitors (like Maree) from New Zealand. 


 I finally got my little art quilt quilted and bound. 
This is shown draped over a chair back so it looks wonkier than it really is.  I still need to add a hanging sleeve.  (P.S. I love it! but it will go up for sale.) 


I have resisted attempting to dye fabric because I thought it would be too messy and I just don't have a place to do it. But I had bought some "super muslin" which is thicker than regular muslin.  I washed it with a small amount of detergent to remove any sizing.  I was planning to use acrylic inks to dye it and thinned paint to stamp designs on it.  
Enter the muse!
I saw some liquid Rit dye on the shelf when I was shopping.  So I picked two bottles- purple and wine colors.  I knew they would blend well and not make "muddy brown/gray." 
I also got some cheap plastic containers to put the dye in when I immerse the fabric. 
I did some wrapping and tying of the fabrics and these are my resulting fabrics.
I will be doing this some more. I will be buying more colors of dye also.  Just what I needed (sigh) another hobby. 
I also kept the Color Catcher sheets as I saw on someone's blog that she uses them in art quilts.  The two I used in this are a lovely dark lavender   I should have taken a picture! 


12 comments:

Maree said...

I follow your interesting blog from New Zealand.

Donna said...

We used to call this tie-dye and mom made us use buckets out in the backyard! Our fabric was old sheets. We tied with rubber bands collected off the daily newspaper. My sister did a whole bedroom in RED and white. The room was so bright no one but her could sleep in it! Have fun!

Barb said...

I wish you hadn't of done that....now I want to go and dye fabrics....that is soooo fantastic and I love the way it runed out.

I also love your quilt, those flowers are just the right touch!

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

Oooh....back to the 60's and 70's! Tye dyed fabrics were such the rage - lol! Love the colors you used and how they turned out :)

Unknown said...

nice art quilt, love it....i would make the biggest mess dying fabrics...i'll refrain from that, but yours are lovely

Tangos Treasures said...

Congratulations!! Love the fabric!

Pat said...

Great....660 posts!!! Love the dyed fabric. You are just TOO much, Gene!!!

Patti Williams said...

love the quilt and the tie dye fabrics - good job. I posted some quilts I made on facebook!

Melissa ;-) said...

Looks great, Gene! And thanks for the tip on the color catcher.

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Your little art quilt is great! You need to make another for your own collection.

sewfunquilts said...

Congrats on your 660 posts...yakking a lot, huh?

Your watercolor quilt turned out great, and love the flowers touch.

Looks like you've got yourself a new way to explore with the dying fabric. Have fun with it.

Barbara said...

Uh oh, a new process + a creative mind = lovely results and dyed hands. Yeah, yeah, I know you said you wear gloves, but I bet your hands get dyed anyhow. LOL