New Bag

I purchased a pattern about a year ago by Pink Sand Beach Designs, and cut out the pieces for it during quilt camp last summer, but didn't get a chance to sit down and sew it.  After being at the quilt show last week and seeing the pattern on display at multiple vendors, I decided it was time to sit down and make it.  (I really could have used it last week at the show!).  This bag is called the Barbados Bag.  It ends up about 9.5x11 inches, has multiple pockets (which I love) and is big enough for an iPad to fit inside.  When I bought the pattern, I was thinking of that use primarily, but now that it is done I know I will use it as a purse as well.  It is made with fusible fleece and decor bond interfacing so it is pretty sturdy.  The main body of the bag and 1 pocket have zippers so there is security for the most important stuff.

On the left is the pattern and on the right are the front and back sections during construction.  The spiral fabric is a purchased piece out of my stash; all the other fabrics I used are some of my hand dyes.  These were both snow dyes and ice dyes.

 Above is the front, with the zippered pocket and a second pocket where the pink ends.  There is another zipper on the top.

This is the back, which has 2 tall pockets; if you look closely you can see the double row of stitching.  The pattern company also sells the hardware used to attach the straps.  They could have just been sewn in without the hardware, but I chose to add it.  There are also 2 pockets on the inside.

And then to finish it off, I remembered I had these 2 great zipper pulls, purchased years ago!  See, there's a reason for all this stuff I accumulate; it does get used eventually!  I love the design of this bag, and the colors of the fabrics!

Snow Dye Results

Snow dye results are pretty unpredictable - the snow we had this week was very light and fluffy, not high water content, so the dye was less diluted as the snow melted than it would have been with a wetter snow.  Anyway, you never know quite what you're going to get!

 The piece above is the black cherry that was a low-water immersion dye.  It has some very dark and very light areas, and interesting color separation.

 This piece is a combination of parakeet and kingfisher blue snow dye. There is more blending of the 2 colors than distinct areas, except for a few streaks of the kingfisher blue.

 This snow dye was a combination of dragon fruit and black cherry.  Both lengthwise edges of the fabric have white areas where the dye didn't penetrate, which make some interesting patterns.

The piece above is a rayon scarf that was in the ice dye.  The colors I used were baby blue, elephant grey and watermelon.  I was really expecting more blue but the watermelon dominated.  There are some large areas with very little color, so I will be adding some more to this one.  It does have some very interesting patterning though.

Snow Dye 2014

We got about 5 inches of snow today with the winter storm, so I got a chance to do some snow dyeing.  I had some new colors from Dharma Trading that I wanted to try out. 

Here is an overhead view of the 2 pans I set up.  On the right, a mesh screen is tacked to a frame and sits on top of a large kitty litter pan to catch the drips.  2 yards of soda ash soaked fabric are scrunched under the mound of snow (like the pan on the left).  The left pan has a mesh sleeve (made from a grocery store produce bag) slipped over a smaller kitty litter pan.  The clothes pins hold the ends tight so it doesn't sag.  Both pans have a fat quarter of fabric in the bottom to catch the drips of dye as the snow melts.

 Here the dye is poured over the snow.  Above colors are parakeet and kingfisher blue.  Colors below are dragon fruit and black cherry.

I also put a yard in low immersion dye of black cherry, and an infinity scarf is being ice dyed in the larger container.

The ice dye has 3 colors - baby blue, elephant grey, and watermelon. 

Ice Dyeing Tutorial

In the past when I've ice dyed, I made a "parfait" of layered fabrics/shirts/scarves in a container with ice and powdered dye between each layer.  That method works fine, but whatever is on the bottom gets the darkest and greatest mix of color.  For a little bit more control, I've adapted another method, similar to the process I've used with snow.  (For that, I've used a plastic mesh tacked to a wooden stretcher strip frame over a plastic kitty litter pan.)

I found that a mesh grapefruit bag stretches to perfectly fit an 11 x 15 inch kitty litter pan, like a sleeve.

I just stretch out the mesh bag (both ends are cut off) and slide the pan inside. Securing at opposite ends with clothespins (binder clips would work too) pulls it taught enough to hold the weight of the fabric and ice.  The piece of fabric in the bottom of the pan is ready to catch the drips.

Layer your soda-ash soaked fabric or garment (about 1/2 cup soda ash per gallon of water, available from ProChem and Dharma Trading Co.) on top of the mesh, layer with ice cubes or crushed ice, and then sprinkle your dye powder on top.  Be sure to wear rubber gloves and a protective mask when handling dye; I use MX Procion fiber reactive dyes (available from the 2 sources mentioned above, or a local art supply store such as Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA).  With this method, you can still layer 2 items on top of each other, or place them side by side.  I like to scrunch my fabric to get a mottled pattern.  Depending on the size of the items, you might be able to do more.

 The 2 photos above show a shirt and scarf placed on the pan, then the ice and dye on top.  The ice should completely cover the items you are dyeing.  The more ice you use, the more it will dilute the colors.  For this project, I wanted, soft, mottled colors.  I used yellow, coral, and turkey red.  Start with your lighter colors first or they won't show up in the finished product.

 Here you see the ice melting into the pan below; as it does so, the colors seep into the fabric.  The ice causes some of the colors that make up the dyes to separate and form interesting patterns.  When you do this process by the parfait method, whatever item is on the bottom would be sitting in all the liquid, so it will be darker and more solid than pieces on the top.

This is the t-shirt spread out a bit after the ice has melted and it continues to "batch".  I let things set at least 24 hours before rinsing out.  Rinse in cool water till the water runs almost clear, then hang to dry.  After drying (they don't have to be completely dry), wash your items in  hot water with Synthrapol (to remove excess dye).  I also like to throw in a color catcher to pick up excess dye - they turn beautiful colors and are great to use in mixed media or collage projects, and are especially good for screen printing or block printing.

Here are the 3 items from this dye session hanging to dry - t-shirt, fat quarter that was in the pan to soak up the dripping dye, and a bamboo rayon scarf.  I am happy with how these colors turned out - it's always a bit of a surprise, but that's the fun of it!
 

Snow & Ice Dyeing

We had a final blast (I hope) of winter last week, our biggest snow of the season.  It was about 5-6 inches, but alternated between snow and rain, so that it quickly became slushy.  We've had almost no snow for the last 2 years, so I planned ahead to do some snow dyeing by pre-soaking my fabric in a soda ash solution, which serves as a fixative to help the dye adhere to the fibers.  I dug out my supplies - pans to catch the melting snow & dye and a stretcher strip frame with plastic screening tacked to it, and mixed up some dye.  After arranging the fabric on top of the screen, I collected a few pans of snow and packed it on top of the fabric.  Since the snow was so wet, it packed really well. In the past I've had the best results with snow with higher water content.  I poured the dye over the snow and let it sit till the next day. I used 3 colors - turquoise first, then purple & fuchsia.

 The fuchsia and purple completely overpowered the turquoise, which was a bit of a surprise since I had almost completely covered the snow with turquoise first.  I have 3 yards of fabric that all look like the next 2 pictures.

Since I had leftover turquoise, I folded another piece of fabric and saturated it with the rest of the dye. I also had a bit of black which I added in a few places.

Finally, I decided to put my last 2 pieces in an ice dye parfait; instead of using snow and liquid dye, in a round plastic ice cream tub I layered fabric, then ice; sprinkled 3 colors of dye powder on top of the ice; then the next piece of fabric, more ice and 3 more colors of dye.  The process is pretty much the same as with snow - as the snow or ice melt, the dye seeps into the fabric and makes interesting patterns.

 The piece above was on top, and had blue, green, and yellow dye.

This piece was on the bottom, with red, orange and purple.  The colors from the top layer also blend with the bottom as the ice melts.  As I was rinsing out the bottom piece, I thought I'd just made a piece of mud brown, but it actually turned out pretty cool.  It has brown and red, but also some light spots - it could be a background for a fall piece.  Maybe you'll see it  again in another post!