The New Tea Dyed Fabric...

I decided to take pictures of the tea dyeing process so you could see how it turned out...and to maybe answer a few questions that have popped up in the comments.  First, a picture of my tools - a 24 quart pail (bought from the dollar store) and my broken yard stick used to stir the dye bath.

To mix the dyeing brew I use regular Lipton Tea.  

• I filled the pail half full of hot water.  
• Next, I filled two 2 gallon stockpots with water and placed them on the stove.  After the water reached a boil, I placed 20 packages of the tea in each pot and let them set for an hour.  
• The very dark brew from each pot was then poured into the pail. 
• The key here is to leave enough space for the fabric to get into the pail without overflowing AND to have a dark enough brew to get an effective dye coverage.

After submerging the fabric and swirling it around in the dye bath 

this was how it looked initially...

...and after a few hours...

I left the brew overnight and around noon removed it from the dye bath.  Here is how it looked when it first came out of the tea dye...

...then it was washed in the kitchen sink 

using cold water until the water ran clear.

Lastly it was placed in the dryer for 30 minutes on high.  

I added a white towel to catch any leftover dye water.

Fresh from the dryer it was ironed...

...and here is the finished product waiting to be cut out...

I will need to make a trip to Mood during the week to purchase some tan lining for the outfit but other than that it's dyed and waiting to be used.


I hope this step-by-step process will help you if you decide that you want to tea dye something...


...as always more later!






  

Prepping the Fabric for the next one...

Continuing on with the "Ye Olde Familiar" series, the next dress will be made from this lace fabric:

I've wanted a lace dress of my own since they started showing up in the designer collections and in the stores earlier this year.  I even did a post on it called, "Inspiration" and after looking at quite a few lace dresses, I realized that I didn't want a white one or an off-white one.  I desired an antiquey tan one and since the fabric I bought earlier this year isn't really the color I want... I've decided to tea dye it.  Now I've used this process before, on the fabric in this dress...

...and it's a simple yet time consuming process that I posted about here.  I will work on transforming the fabric this weekend, to get it ready to sew next weekend.  While I'm stirring the dye pot, I will continue sewing the last dress and a half of the Peyton series.


These Peyton dresses have been fun to sew since each dress is different due to the fabric selections, as well as, details such as lining or embellishments.  They will make great work dresses...even though I ended up not sewing during the last Thunder/Heat game.  Too busy screaming at the TV set in the fourth period...*sigh*


So you know where I've been today...finishing up the Peyton series...hopefully pictures of me in the finished garments soon!


...as always more later!

I've Been Dreaming...

Even though Christmas sewing is up next, I've been dreaming of what I want to sew after that.  And believe it or not, it's not fancy outfits that I want to make but regular work pieces.  I want a few new skirts, a vest/pants combo and to finish off the dress I was working on prior to the Christening Outfit (CO).


But what I want to make more than anything is a felted wool jersey jacket.  In the midst of working on the CO, I bought a few yards of a lilac wool jersey.  So I set about felting the fabric and this is the result:

I want to use this pattern for the jacket:

Butterick 6002 - is an out-of-print pattern from 1999.  

This pattern has been in my collection for a long time and lately I've been dreaming of this jacket.  So I'm definitely making my own version and soon.  


Gray is a hot color for Fall 2011...and I've wanted some gray pieces (straight skirt, a pair of pants & a dress) with a lilac topper...for a while now.  The choice is whether or not to paw through bins looking for a gray piece of fabric or to just buy another piece.  I'm sure you know which way I'm leaning...*LOL*


Anyway, as soon as the scarves are done, the lilac jacket will be my next project...and I'll let you know if I succumbed and bought more fabric...


...as always, more later!

It's Here!

I got off the bus this evening tired and longing for the weekend. In my purse is a supply list...I need to make a quick trip to Daytona Trimmings tomorrow to pick up some supplies. But mostly I was just annoyed because it took longer than usual for me to get home.

I trudged up to the mailbox and opened it...then the skies parted...the darkness lifted and Hallelujah...*sigh*...all my troubles were gone! Because the fabric is here! The fabric is here! With a bounce in my step and a renewed quickness, I double-timed it into my apartment...threw my coat off, snapped open the envelope, did a quick measure (Lisa - it's 3 yards!) and tossed it into the washing machine.

Thirty minutes later it went into the dryer...Twenty minutes after that I pulled it out of the dryer...ummm Houston, we have a problem. This piece did not felt as tightly as the original piece did. At first, I thought I would just leave it...but the color difference between the body of the jacket and the sleeves would be too great. Back into the washer it went...

After a trip through the washer that seemed to take forever this time and then a ten minute trip through the dryer...I had a piece that was the right consistency...but just a little bit lighter than my piece. No worries, I will deal with it! Okay, I know you want to know how much was left right?

1 3/4 yards...22" wide...I laid the sleeve pattern down on the fabric...and, yes, I will have sleeves - the right length, too! OMG!!!! I am soooo thrilled and my new outfit will be called, "The Lisa Outfit!"

Lisa, thank you, thank you, thank you for sending me your piece! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my outfit and a special thank you to all the others who emailed and/or left a comment volunteering your pieces!

I will cut the sleeves this weekend and finish the jacket and dress up! Tomorrow, I will tell you what I'm planning on working on this weekend...I've got a list and I'm dangerous! *LOL*

More later...

Fabric Manipulator

I've had this piece of fabric for about a year:

It was purchased on the recommendation of a friend. Bought from my favorite internet fabric source, Fabric Mart. It was part of last year's Anna Sui pieces and I thought it was a challis-type fabric. Instead when it arrived it had a very loose weave...and although I liked the border print...I'm not sure about the color.

So this went into the bowels of the fabric closet...unloved. Fast forward to this week and a conversation that I had with several friends who also purchased this piece of fabric. Yeah, we were kinda like lemmings when we saw the first friend's piece! *smile* A member of this 'elite' group, had washed her piece. When she showed the end result to the other members of the group, I wasn't around...but I did hear about it...and her end results intrigued me.

Of course, this meant that my piece had to be retrieved and manipulated. Let me say here and not that I love manipulating fabric. I love how it can become something entirely different from the original piece. Sometimes its something better...sometimes its something unusual...but it is never the same piece that you started with.

Personally, I've never manipulated a piece and had something go horribly wrong...but then that might be because I'm open to any possibility. Manipulation is about experimentation and risk. If you're scared of the risk, don't manipulate. Me, I find it exhilarating to learn what a fabric can become with a little handling!

In its original form, this piece measured 5 yards by 44" wide. After one round in the washing machine on hot water with a small amount of detergent, this is it how it looked:

After a short trip through the dryer and a steam press, it measured 3 yards by 23". It also felted unevenly throughout the piece...some areas of the piece are wider by an inch or two and not as tightly felted. My piece became softer and more sweater-like. The color is denser and the fabric edges ruffle, also the pattern is tighter, less distinct.

Will I use it now? Yes, of course. It will make a great, trendy little sweater jacket over my black wool crepe LBD. It has already sent me looking for a pattern, one I've wanted to make for a minute now, Butterick 5187:

Friday evening and Saturday morning has been spent pretreating and manipulating fabric. I'm a fabric manipulator, are you?

More later...

I Painted Today...

A couple of months ago, I purchased this very pretty wool doubleknit from Metro Textiles. LindseyT purchased some of the same fabric and made this amazing military jacket from it. After reading about her jacket and viewing the pretty pictures, that red doubleknit came roaring back into my mind...proclaiming quite loudly that IT wanted to be used this weekend.

Now I had plans to use the $1 a yd. fabric from Fabric Mart...purchased to make that great vintage pattern and some components this weekend. That was my plan right up until I saw that jacket...*sigh* But the red doubleknit was all I could think of all day long yesterday...so I gave in. I know what pattern I want to use with the fabric...I just didn't have any red lining material.

I thought since I was leaving work around 3 pm that I could swing by the garment district and pick up a couple of yards for this outfit...however, after a couple of hours at work, I just didn't feel like going to the garment district! So what to do, what to do! I remembered that I had a beautiful black and white paisley printed silk charmeuse in the collection...maybe that would work.

Well I got home and looked at the silk with the doubleknit...nah, no good! But if it had just a little bit of red in the background, it would be fantastic! The wheels started to turn...I went to check my notions stash...and I found my painting supplies. I have an entire collection of fabric paints, fabric markers and stamps from the Dana Marie Design Co. formerly known as Purrfection.

So here is the fabric in its "before" state:

And here it is in it's "after" state, hanging over the shower rod curing for its 24 hours before pressing and cutting:

Now how did I accomplish this? First I covered my cutting table with an old twin sheet so that none of the ink would add any MORE stains to my cutting table!!!

Second, I used two types of red paint from Pelle's, Bright Red and Magenta, and a fine point red fabric marker.

Originally I was going to use a stamp in some of the white areas and actually stamped the fabric 2 or 3 times near one end

But I didn't really like the effect. Just filling in the design with the two paints and the fabric marker worked so much better. It took about five-six hours to complete...because I would paint an area, allow it to take (approximately an hour) and then move it and work on another area. After the second move, I got into a rhythm knowing which pieces to fill in first and which ones last. It was a very soothing and relaxing process.

So now I have custom made lining fabric specially designed to go with the red doubleknit. I will move onto cutting out the pattern pieces and working on the garments...but if I don't get a single item finished this weekend, I feel like I have achieved something great. I made my own lining!