Dyeing Fabric Fun

This past Saturday was such a sunny and cool day, I decided to dye some fabric outside. Using Procion MX dyes, I colored two different types of silk - dupion and habotai.

I got some colors that will work with silk tie samples I got from a friend.

Next I squirted some dyes onto silk velvet and swished the dyes around.

I had two different manufacturers of PFD fabric - Moda and Kona. I dyed some of each to see what the finished feel of the cloth would be. Kona feels rather thick, okay for piecing but I don't like it for applique. The Moda feels about the same.

My favorite cotton is Pimatex by Robert Kaufman. It has a feel similar to the commercial batik fabrics. The thread count is tighter and works much better for any type of applique.

I also dyed some organza. I needed very little dye for these since its so sheer.

It ravels quite a lot when washed and tangled up with the other fabrics. I wasn't sure whether to throw it in the dryer, (didn't want it to melt) so I draped it over a clothes rack. It got back its stiffness.

Further experiments with soy wax and shibori are in the future.

Finished hosta quilt

I've been working on the machine quilting of my hosta quilt. I quilted in veins on each of the leaves in 100 weight silk threads to match each of the leaves. Here's a detailed picture of a couple of the leaves.

I did a stipple stitch on the pieced background.

Next, I did a curvy in and out design for the mulch.

I finished the edges with a facing. Directions are on Grace Knowles blog http://www.barnyardchatter.wordpress.com/

I've said this before, her directions are precise and clear, and the results are great.

Here's a picture of the finished quilt.