A Pit Stop

I was rolling down Cutting Junction minding my own business when I saw a sign for Dye City. The sign was quite colorful and filled with possibilities and I was a little intrigued so I pulled over.

What does this mean in real world terms? As I was cutting out a pair of TNT pants in the brown twill linen (pictured in the last post), I thought that a matching shell would work great with the pants. But I had only purchased enough fabric for the pants. Since when had that stopped me from creating a matching top. So I got out my TNT tank pattern (Sewing Workshop Mission Tank) and I placed the two main pieces on my leftover scraps.

Hmmmm, it would work if I could add some lace. Well being the notions stasher that I am, I have 25 yards of a 2" cotton cluny lace that was given to me by a friend. However, the lace is a beigey color. No problem. I know that I have some black Rit dye leftover from a dyeing experiment last year.

A big pot of boiling water, some dye, 1/2 cup of salt and four hours later I have 7 yards of freshly dyed black lace. Now this wasn't a detour I was planning on taking but since I had the time and since I wasn't in a rush, I decided to explore this creative juncture. Now at the end of the evening, I have a great new outfit. A sleeveless tank top accented with beautiful strips of black lace, that I dyed myself, and a matching pair of pants. I am very thrilled with this new outfit!

Here are two more snapshots taken during my journey:

A picture of the original beige lace before it was dyed and then the lace after it was dyed black on top of the fabric used for the pants and top.

And a picture of the lace detailing on the front of the tank!

More photos and more on my journey tomorrow when I will be wrapping up my sewing adventure and heading home!