Dyeing Delight

I've actually been dyeing lately. Which I said out loud to some friends last night and they all gasped, oops, I see the word in my head and forget that dying and dyeing sound pretty much exactly the same.

Anyways...The reason for actually getting all the dyeing stuff uncovered from the usual laundry room debris is that I'm helping with costumes for my son's first foray into the dramatic arts, participating in his middle schools' version of Seussical. While dyeing the costumes, I ended up with some extra mixed up dye solution so I threw in some pieces of whites or off whites that have been waiting for some color. That's what I'm showing you today, as there aren't pictures of the dyed costumes quite yet. This first piece was a white on white Asian themed print. I have never understood the whole concept or purpose of white on white quilting fabric. Take a white fabric, print it with white fabric paint (not dye), use in your quilt when you need white. Since it is overall printed with fabric paint, the fabric is always stiff and a bit scratchy no matter how much you wash it. If you want to actually see the design take out into very bright sunlight, or spray with water...??? I don't think it ever adds depth or interest to a quilt, it just reads as white. Even close up it is hard to really see something is there in normal indoor lighting. Not being a traditionally trained quilter, I guess I am missing the purpose of this fabric. But it makes a great thing to overdye if you don't mind the stiffness of the fabric because you actually get to see the printed pattern!

Here are some blue green pieces. Very very usable I think. I was using cerulean blue and chartreuse from Dharma Trading just in case you're wondering what made these color combos. Some of these fabrics were very white and some were very off-white, which affects your final color of course! Some were a coarse-weave muslin, some were nicer broadcloth which soak up the dye so much differently.

This is a big piece of muslin that I dyed in the same colors as above. It wouldn't cooperate in staying up on the design wall, so here it is all foldy.
Yikes I ran out of Synthropol, (special detergent dyers use that gets rid of excess dyes molecules). So I have an emergency order hopefully arriving today or tomorrow so I can finish the rest of the costumes. Pictures on those later when they're all done.