Portfolio of older work

Monday, June 14, 2010

Jar Dyeing and a quilt challenge (not from me)


Here is a half-gallon pickle jar full of dye and fabric.  I thought the jar would be perfect for dyeing but not so.  The biggest problem is that the opening is more narrow than the rest of the jar. That meant that the material all nicely scrunched couldn't fit through the opening.  So, I had to put the fabric in the jar little by little.  For me, that was the fatal flaw for the jar.  I won't use it again.  The second problem I had was that I used one yard pieces of fabric and could only fit three in the jar.  That could be overcome with a bigger jar or smaller fabric.  The last problem I had was with the pink dye.  See the lov-er-ly pink dye at the bottom of the jar?  Well, it was dead.  Looked pretty but didn't dye the fabric.

Of the three pieces, I like one of them as is.  

A second one I over dyed with yellow and I like it much better.  Looks kinda like a forest on a sunny day, doesn't it?

The third is overdyed with blue and it still is not ready for public viewing!  All three will get more something later but I am finally satisfied for this step.

And now the quilt challenge, "If you were a quilt, what would you look like?"  Hmmm....what would I look like?  I bit older and raggedy perhaps.  I friend, Bonnie Dyer, from my quilt guild just got published in a book "Vintage Revisited."  There a group of quilters took antique blocks and turned them into modern art quilts.  Maybe that would be me.

2 comments:

  1. Wondering why you dyed in a jar? I've never heard of that technique, could you send me an email and let me know the details of why & how? What kind of dye did you use?

    Love both pieces of fabric you posted, they turned out great!

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  2. I really like your pieces too. I'd also appreciate the information on the "why & how" of the dyeing.

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