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.