Adventures in dying

Vats of dye were dotting the lawn this weekend as I embarked upon a long-time goal to dye this fantastic Seed Catalogue print from Holly Holderman's Annie's Farm Stand line of fabric from Lakehouse. It's a white on white print which works perfectly for this dye approach.

I have been wanting to do this ever since I saw Jeni's post here.  Unfortunately, I needed to do it outside since my laundry room sink is teeny (aka non-existant) and there was no way I was tracking dye around my house.  So outside on a sunny day we go.

I used these dyes from Dharma:

Robin's egg blue
Charcoal Gray
Parakeet
Goldfinch
Orange Marmalade
Wasabi
Procion MX dyes - in Midnight Blue and Raspberry

Mixed up according to the directions on the Dharma Trading site - great instructions guys!
The whole process worked perfectly.

This picture shows the unaltered colors.  From the Top down are:
Raspberry
Orange Marmalade
Goldfinch
Wasabi
Robin's Egg Blue
Parakeet
Midnight Blue
Charcoal Gray



 I love the results.
Some of the colors turned out better than others. For example the darker colors really show the white printing much better. The raspberry and midnight blue bled a lot until they finally rinsed clean - way more than the other colors.

My favorite color is Robin's egg (such a clear pretty blue).  The Parakeet makes a lovely shade of aqua.  The Goldfinch turned out way more mustardy than anticipated.  I just used the standard amounts recommended for each of the dyes.  Changing the quantities and the amount of time in the bath would also change the colors. So there is lots of room to play with the colors.
 
It took about 4 hours to get these fabrics dyed in 2 batches but that was partially because I was still figuring everything out.  The 2nd batch actually went much quicker.  Totally worth the effort.  The amount of dye I made was the smallest that directions called for and I could've easily dyed more fabric if I had had it.

Fun stuff. Now to sew with these beauties!

Happy Sewing!

Iowa bound

These are about to make the trip to Iowa.  They are for my good friend Kari who just moved back there after spending the last decade here in Oregon.

She and her family will be missed but hopefully these pillows will brighten up their new home.



This pillow was made with 2 different sized circles according to the cluck Cluck Sew tute found here. I used 2 and 3" circles and my Go baby cutter to make the job easier.  I left the edges raw.  I think is my favorite pillow of the bunch.

A twister pillow

And playing with some chevron quilting


Happy Sewing!

Last minute camp sewing

 Says the girl leaving for Girl Scout camp in 2 days, "Mom can you make me a bag like Hunter's?"

Ok sure no problem, I'll just whip that up.  One very hot weekend of sewing later...

...here are the results

This is the weekend away travel bag from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing.  I swore the last time I made this bag that I wouldn't make it again. No offense to Miss Heather, but this isn't my favorite pattern but I didn't want to take the time to draft my own.

So I changed up a few things.  Instead of sewing the front/lining together and flipping it right side out as the instructions say, I just serged them together right sides out and left the serged edge on the inside. This isn't as clean but really reduces the bulk when you are trying to assemble it and makes for fewer broken needles and expletives.   I also changed up the way the side panels are attached to the zipper section - I machine sewed those in place for a more secure seam.  Overall this bag was much easier to assemble with these changes.

I used a laminate fabric on the inside to make it easy to clean.  Add a little personalization and a wrist strap and it's good to go.  Hope she has a fun week at camp!

Happy Sewing!

Summer knitting

It was 108 degrees in Corvallis today.  So no, I must admit I didn't finish knitting this today. It's been done for a while, but I did finish blocking it today.  
This is the color affection scarf/shawl designed by Veera Välimäki.  
When the Plucky knitter first posted it on her blog back in February i knew I had to make it.  A pretty easy pattern to make since it is all garter stitch.  Short rows give it it's unique shape. It drapes beautiful in MadTosh Merino Light. 


Will be fabulously warm and cozy in the winter months, but yeah i don't really need it today.  





Happy Sewing and knitting!