Sewing and dyeing

Drying the newly washed dye samples 

As promised last time, here are the photos of the dried samples. These first two photos show everything drying on my washing line.

Persian berries sample

Alder Buckthorn

Rhubarb root sample

Logwood

Apparently, adding a small amount of washing soda carefully to the dye bath can turn the colour from brown to purple. A fascinating process. We were told that the colour could change to navy if too much washing soda is added.

Madder

Cochineal

Dyers Greenweed 

The beautiful darker green was achieved by the addition of washing soda to a smaller sample of the dye bath, Such a difference to what was originally a rather insipid yellow.

Such an exciting process. The last photo shows my favourite - Japanese Indigo. This is a piece of silk and I love it because of the various colours. Some red has leached onto it, but I think it makes it such a really interesting piece of fabric.

Japanese Indigo

I really don't know what I shall with these samples. They are quite small, but I expect most will end up being used one day.

The experimental dress

This is where I have got up to with my dress. The skirt is quite full, and now has pockets which were not part of the original design. I now need to get going with the printing.Not sure where this project is heading at the moment, and totally unsure whether it is worth the effort, but we shall see. I was feeling rather unsure whether to continue at all until I read the Blog posted today by Cherie Haas, the online Editor of Cloth Paper Scissors. Her title was "You might not like this". In her piece, Cherie wrote ",,,,if a project is scary, if it's so big that it seems impossible, then it's worth doing". "I invite you ro dig in, dig deep, and be authentic. You have nothing to lose."

(I should note here that, at the time of writing this, the Blog post mentioned above has not been added to the Cloth Paper Scissors website. Hopefully it will be added later. I found it well worth reading.)

Cherie Haas might have been talking just to me, the dithering, prevaricating me. I really felt encouraged by her words. I just need to clear a space to get the printing done. Sadly it will have to wait until the next project has been completed.

Work in progress

This is not a big project, just a pair of pot holders. The last set I made is currently living with my elder daughter and I miss having them in my kitchen. These will be a bit bigger. I must also get my piano stool upholstered, but that is a story for another day.