new hand dyed fabric

I was recently contacted by someone who requested some custom dyed cotton.  She was smitten by some fabric she saw on my Etsy site, and needed yards more for some curtains.  I agreed to the assignment, and got to work, re-creating the original color combo.

Here is the original fabric, as seen in the Wild Onion Etsy shop:

Here is the new fabric, side by side with the original:

And here are some more photos, just because it’s pretty!

 

Preparations for teaching quilting classes

I recently returned from Quilting with Machines, a quilting conference in Ohio. I taught 5 art technique classes (well, 4, plus one fashion show featuring my Wild Onion Jackets). This was the first time I taught nationally, and the first time I had to fly all my “stuff” to the location.

Most of the time, when you read about teacher’s classes, you get eye candy with samples, or blurbs about the class itself. Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? Read on, intrepid blog-reader, read on….

I go overboard. I admit that. My kids admit that. My husband admits that. I even got a phone call about a month prior to the show from my friend Jamie Wallen, telling me that I was going overboard… and he lives halfway across the country! (how did he know???!!) But listen– do you want a teacher who is really super-prepared with lots of samples or do you want a teacher who just rolled out of bed? hah!

Side note on the rolling out of bed comment… due to early morning classes in Ohio (Eastern Time) and my home in California (Pacific Time), I also prepared by rolling myself out of bed every morning at 4:30am for a month prior to the show… so I would be bright and chipper at what was, for me, a 5am class!!

So, back to the preparations chez Wild Onion Studio:

hand dyed fabric anyone? Here’s what it takes to dye 30 yards of fabric:

Here are 30 yards of fabric, washed, ironed, ready for labels:

And because I am a list-maker of the first order, here is the back wall of my studio, with what my kids were calling the “War map”. The War Map? It’s a paper graph of the 2 weeks prior to my “box shipping day”, listing everything I had to do and what day I had to do it.

Obsessive? Or super duper prepared. You be the judge!

A short week

This week zoomed by in a flurry of sewing, school, and computering!

It’s hot here (105 yesterday, 108 today.  But it’s a dry heat.  And you know, they say it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.  Right.)  I’ve been getting up early to catch the cooler hours in my studio.  I’ve been creating a memory quilt for a customer– I’ll share photos soon!

School started, which means my day is now quieter but broken up with children’s neeeeeds.  I neeeeeed you to pick me up.  I neeeeeeed more pencils.  Check me later, bub, Mommy neeeeeeeds a glass of wine.  Not whine.

And all the computering?  That’s the grande finale of the summertime’s computer project– a brand new website, courtesy of the patient and kind (if she’s laughing at me, I can’t tell!  helps that she’s on the other coast) Holly Knott.  All will be revealed sooner rather than later— it looks fantastic, so far!

Check back tomorrow, when I post photos of the craziness that will happen this weekend chez Wild Onion:  Burning Man departure and another dye day!

A WAC Wild Onion Jacket from UFO’s!

Recently, Mary Norton, Lora Martin, Lucilla Warren, and my mother accompanied me to a Wearable Arts Connection meeting, in Los Angeles. The speaker was June Colburn, who entertained us with stories of her fitting woes (she is very petite, and has trouble finding clothes that fit) as well as tales of her life in Japan.

One of the highlights of the day (especially since my mom was there to hear!) was a WAC member sharing her Wild Onion Jacket. I apologize, as I don’t remember this member’s name, but she did share that her jacket was made from various parts and pieces she had made from several classes in which she had participated:

What a clever combining of UFO’s– out of the studio closet and into the hall closet… and then out into the world as a warm remembrance of delightful classes!

Unfortunately, I didn’t take notes on all of her embellishments, but I do remember that she hand dyed the sky fabric, and the pelican is thread painted. She looked lovely in the jacket, and I was thrilled that she was so pleased with her wearable art!

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank all of you readers who have been publicly and privately encouraging me to get back on the blogging bandwagon! I am so pressed for time, that I have to use very bad manners and thank you with this group note. Rest assured, your individual emails and comments have served to bolster my renewed blogging energy, and I appreciate all of you. Thank you thank you thank you! Susan

Blues and greens on Etsy

I was just honored with an Etsy Treasury page!  The page features many beautiful blues and greens, and one of my hand-dyed fabrics called “Mediterranean Sea” sits proudly among the other treasures!

Click here to visit the treasury list called Water Nymph.

Thanks, Kelly!

My etsy page Wild Onion

An unlined, un-quilted Wild Onion Jacket

I was recently contacted by Judy Carpenter, a fellow member on the Complex Cloth yahoo group. Judy had purchased my Wild Onion Jacket Master Pattern, and was planning on making an unlined, reversible jacket.

After a few emails back and forth, Judy decided to go for it– with incredible results. With her permission, I am posting photos of both the “right” side of her jacket, and the reversible lining– both are incredible fabrics, and the jacket is equally wearable on each side!

Judy lives in the South, and wanted an unlined, unquilted jacket. To accomplish this, she first sewed the arm/side seams of each jacket part (“right” side and lining). She then placed the two parts right sides together (the sleeves will be hanging loose– don’t try to stuff them inside of each other), and sewed along the front edges, the neck edge, and the bottom back edge, leaving an opening to turn the jacket right side out. Once Judy turned the jacket right sides out, pulling it through the opening in the bottom back edge, she pressed and top-stitched along the outer edges, in lieu of binding.

Judy noted that although she hemmed the sleeve edges first on this jacket, in the future, she plans on turning the sleeve hems and topstitching them after the jacket body has been completed.

To see more photos of this jacket and Judy’s other, creative fiber adventures, please visit her blog or website by clicking on these links.

What a successful Wild Onion Jacket! I love the idea of a light weight jacket– kind of like a cardigan, but more polished. Plus, that fabric, Judy! YUMMY!!

My hand dyed projects from “Dye Day 2008”

I promised to show you some of the fabric that I dyed over the weekend. I did get sidetracked yesterday with my dye tutorial, but I try to keep my promises…especially when I make them so publicly!

Linda brought over some of the new Procion MX dye colors from Dharma— I was especially in love with Palomino Gold and Truffle. Oxblood was very bloody red. I might have to re-name it in my mind….It does make a nice deep red– not too orange, not too blue.  Kind of… bloody.

Here is an old white tee shirt that got updated with some green, royal blue, and Cayman Island:

I ended up with some white splotches which I believe are the results of the Misty Gray dye powder. The color description says it’s an “elusive gray color”. Very elusive, I’d say.

I dyed a bunch of bandanas, because I like to wrap my head in color:

I’ve been wanting to play with Dharma’s silk/rayon devore scarves, so I got one of them in a dye bath (why is the photo ginormous? who knows.)

I used Palomino Gold, and the color does shift between the rayon and the silk– isn’t it beautiful?

I’ve also been toying with the idea of dyeing a silk batting. I bought a sample batt from Richland Silk. It’s a very yummy soft silk, but there is no scrim or needlepunching. This means that while the silk fibers are in a batting shape, there’s nothing to hold the silk in place. Any little burr– even dry skin on your cuticle– will pull at the delicate silk. I am becoming experienced with this process, so it didn’t bother me, and the batt turned out exactly as I’d hoped:

Unfortunately, I can’t find Richland Silk anymore (anyone out there have their information?)  The batting is really a very large silk “hankie”.  I’ll have to do some research and see if I can find more of these oversized hankies.  The new Hobbs silk batting has a polyester scrim, which makes it easier to handle, but that poly won’t take the dye.

Tomorrow, I’ll share a beautiful gift I got from Judy Rys!

How I hand dye fabric: a dye tutorial

I’ve received several emails requesting more information on how I dye fabrics. Let me preface this post, then, by disclaiming my expertise! I am by no means a chemist nor even a particularly well-schooled dyer. I have been dyeing by the seat of my pants for about 13 years, but I do end up liking most of what I dye. I am very loosey goosey, and if that technique will bother you, I suggest you click out of here before I bug you too much!

Much of my dyeing knowledge comes from reading the Dharma Trading website and catalogue, the Prochem website and catalogue, and many blogs, in particular, Paula Burch’s site.

I am particularly enamored with the low-water immersion technique of dyeing, and if you’ve seen the dyed fabric I’ve posted recently, you’ve got an idea of what this looks like. If you’re new to my blog, here are some sites to check out: my Etsy shop, Judy Rys’ blog, Lora Martin’s blog, and Deb Lacativa’s blog.

What you need to get started (the Wild Onion way):

• Procion MX dye powders. Buy a couple of pretty colors to get started. If you like dyeing, you can buy more! I buy from Dharma, since it’s nearby, but you can buy Procion in lots of places, including some craft stores.
• Soda ash (aka sodium carbonate). This is not baking soda or baking powder. It is 100% pure soda carbonate, and you can buy it at most hardware stores or pool supply shops.
• Urea. Or not. I usually don’t. Adding a few spoonfuls to your dye water helps mix the more recalcitrant dyes. It also acts as a wetting agent, but that is useful for a different dye technique…. Urea is your call.
• Salt. Plain old table salt.
• Rubber gloves. You can use a pair of dishwashing gloves (don’t use them to wash dishes after you’ve used them for dyeing!). I finally bought a pair of rubber gloves made for chemical use at the hardware store– they are thicker rubber and longer than the dishwashing gloves. You can use the type of gloves used by the medical profession, but you will probably end up with dye on your hands.
• Dust mask. Buy one. Use it. The dust produced by the dye powder is very fine, it spreads out without your even noticing it, which means you will breathe it. Once the powder has been stirred into the water, you can remove the mask.
• Plastic cups and spoons. Don’t use these for food after they’ve been used for dyeing.
• Plastic tubs. A shoebox type will hold about 1/2 yard of cotton fabric, to give you an example of sizes you’ll need.
• Fabric! I dye cotton and silk with Procion MX. I dye white fabric, and I dye light-colored fabric– keep your color knowledge in mind if you’re going to dye light colored fabric!

Okey doke. You’ve got your supplies. On to the fun stuff. Remember, this is loosey goosey, and not meant to do anything other than give you a taste of dyeing in a relaxed environment. You will absolutely get some wonderful fabric that is permanently dyed!

1. Pre-wash your fabric. Known as “scouring”, which sounds very forbidding, but you do not need to get out a washboard. Just wash your fabric in the washing machine with regular detergent if you don’t have any Synthropol around. I don’t use Synthropol, and now I’m sure I’ll get emails about what a bad dyer I am….
2. Wring out your fabric. You don’t need to put it into the dryer!
3. Make some soda ash soak. The soda ash “opens” the fibers of your fabric, in preparation for your dye molecules to permanently bond with the fabric. Ooooo, chemistry! To make soda ash soak: put on your mask and gloves. Dump 1 cup of soda ash (aka sodium carbonate) into 5 quarts of water. Don’t dump the water onto the soda ash– it’ll clump into a hard mess. Break up any clumps of soda ash, mixing the soda soak.
4. Add your damp fabric to the soda soak. Let it soak for at least 15 minutes while you mix up your dye water. Swirl it around a few times.
5. Mixing dye water: put on your mask and gloves. Mix up a bucket of warm water and a cup or two of salt. You will use the salt water to mix the dye water. Don’t ask why– it’s chemistry, and we’re doing fun, not chemistry.
6. Into a plastic cup, mix 1 tsp of dye powder with a small amount of warm water– about 1/4 cup. This will make a bit of a paste, but your plan is to make sure that the dye gets wet and doesn’t clump at the bottom of your cup. Top up your pastey dye with a cup of salt water. Stir stir stir. Hey! You made some dye!!
7. Continue making cups of dye until you’re bored and have enough colors. You can mix up your own colors, too. Drip a little bit onto something white– a coffee filter, a paper towel, etc– to figure out if you like the color you’re making.

Now for the fun!

To get a one color fabric that is kind of mottled, add your fabric to a plastic tub. Pour enough dye water over it to get the fabric really wet. Knead and mush the fabric. The more you mush, the more the color blends out into the fabric, making the color application more even. Some people do this in a baggie. It’s not really my thing, so I’m only briefly touching on it, in case it’s something you want to do.

To get fabrics like mine, or Judy’s, or Lora’s, etc. you will use the low-water immersion technique:

Take your damp fabric. Scrumple it into a tub. The looser you scrumple, the less textured your color will look. I scrumple about a 1/2 yard of fabric into a shoebox sized tub:

You can pleat, twist, swirl your fabric to get different looks:

Experiment and play. You can kind of direct how your fabric will end up, but mainly you have to let go and let the fabric and dye decide.

You don’t need to immerse the fabric in dye water, but you do need to get the fabric “wet” with dye. There will be small puddles of dye at the bottom of the tub, and the longer the fabric sits in the tub, the more it will wick the color around.

The size of the tub is determined by the amount of fabric. If you stuff the tub totally full of fabric, then there’s not much room for the dye. You will create a resist (think of it this way– if you twist fabric really tightly, then run it under water, the inner parts of the twist stay dry. You’ve created a resist!). Experiment with how much color to add. Sploosh dye only around the outsides of the tub. Sploosh dye over the top of the fabric. Create splooshed spots of dye. Play and have fun. Resist the urge to handle the fabric, and you’ll wind up with fantastic textures.

Let the fabric sit for at least 4 hours. After about 24 hours, the dye has been exhausted and won’t do anything, but you can leave it in the dye longer if you need to– you won’t hurt the fabric.

Now comes some important washing instructions:

1. Rinse your fabric one by one in COLD water. You must get the soda ash out of your fabric! Warm water might re-activate any loose dye molecules, and you could end up transferring color where you don’t want it. You don’t need to rinse until the water runs clear, just rinse until you get impatient to rinse another piece of fabric.
2. Soak your fabric in cool water. The soaking really loosens up the excess dye. I used to rinse and rinse and rinse. I’d rinse until the rinse water ran clear. Then when I was soaking the fabric in preparation for washing, I’d notice more dye running out. Now, in deference to the preciousness of water, I rinse less, soak more.
3. I soak like colors together. Or I soak each piece but use smaller tubs, not a whole sinkful of water for one fat quarter. I also do 2 soaks– one in cool water, one in warm.
4. I have a top loading washing machine, so this is how I wash the fabric. If you have a front loader, please research how to complete your final wash! Set the water to the highest level (unless you have a very small amount of fabric). Add some detergent (I don’t swear by Synthropol, but some dyers do.) Dump your fabric in, and let it soak for about half an hour. Close the machine and run the Knit/Delicate cycle. Repeat. I check the machine at the second wash’s rinse cycle– if the water is clear, I’m done. If not, I’ll wash again.
5. To save even more water: if I notice that the rinse water is pretty clear on wash #1, I will take out that fabric, and wash load #2. Then the two (or more) loads all get washed for the second time together. I usually wash all my fabrics together for their third time through the washing machine.
6. Dry as usual. Iron as usual. A note: ironing your hand dyed fabric is a visual treat– enjoy!

I hope this helps. I really do dye loosey goosey with usually great results. I will throw dye baths together in between stirring spaghetti sauce (if you do this, make sure that you don’t use your dye spoon to stir your spaghetti sauce).

Let me know how it goes for you!

Hand dyed fabric day

What’s a fun thing to do when it’s 100 degrees out? Invite your friends over to dye fabric! No sitting around the pool for us– oh no, let’s race around sheathed in rubber gloves and face masks.

I hosted a dye day with some of the members of Fibervision, my Santa Barbara CA-based art group. In attendance were Judy Rys (of Color My World), Lora Martin (Loreclectic), Linda Cassirer (you’ve seen her work on the cover of QNM), Mary Norton (applique artist and beader extraordinaire), and me.

Oh, and my 2 kids, 2 of their friends, and just to add to the general mayhem, the gardener decided that Saturday would be a good day to take out the dying pine tree in the back yard. So we had nice background noise music, too.

Even with all of that chaos, we ended up with some gorgeous fabric! I spouted off the few dyeing facts I know (mainly because Judy asked a million questions. For someone so adamant about NOT buying more products, she sure is interested in the dyeing facts of life!)

Here we are, mixing up dyes:

I’m on the left, with Linda and Mary mixing, and Judy putting some fabric in or taking some fabric out of the soda ash bath in the background.

Gosh, I hope we’re dyeing enough fabric! (gosh, I hope it all fits in Lora’s car! I kept getting emails about BOLTS of fabric showing up. I thought they were joking…):

Please note that this represents only ONE area of tubs and the photo was taken early in the day. Soon, there were tubs lined up on the other side of the patio, all along the outside of my studio, and on the other side of this lot of tubs. Lots and lots of tubs. Wheeee!

We are mixed media artists, so we also dyed papers and coffee filters:

You don’t have to do much to paper to make it gorgeous– just blot up some dye puddles and you have instant color!

I didn’t dye much fabric, because I was more interested in getting the girls hooked in the dyeing process. (Shhhhh, don’t tell them!) Promise I’ll share some of my dyed stuff tomorrow.  Plus, look for the upcoming tutorial on how I dye fabric!

Meanwhile, my studio clean up has run aground for a while. I was able to get most of the nonsense up off of the floor and table, and I got all of my cabinets organized:

It was fabulous to open a cabinet and be able to pull out a few tubs that contained all of my dye product.

I have 3 shows to get ready for this Fall, and so I need to get back to creating. The studio feels much better now– and I created happily all day Monday. As for the studio clean up, it will continue, and I’ve gotten far enough so that I can do it in bits and pieces (go through my file cabinet, re-order my beads: tasks instead of big looming overwhelming projects!) Thanks for sticking with me during the process– I know, I know, I owe you photos!

Foreign intrigue and the front page

What an unusual day, yesterday!

It began with the carpet guy, installing new carpet in the hall and boys’ rooms. Last night was the first time the boys slept in their own separate rooms since the youngest got out of his crib. Around here, that fact is only awe-inspiring to me, so of course, I needed to share it with you all. Moms everywhere get those kind of significant milestones.

Anyway, the boys are happy as clams to have their own private rooms, and No, for the ninetieth time, boys,  NO LOCKS on the DOORS!! (Why do they think that they need locks? They’re in grade school, for goodness sake! It must be a boy thing).

While I was trying to look busy, yet available for question answering for the carpet guy, I thought I’d check on my email. Lo and behold, there’s an emailed comment from my blog that’s completely unintelligible to me. It doesn’t look like any language I recognize.  Lately I’ve been troubled by a lot of splogging (splogging:  when someone steals your blog content) I was kind of stern and actually, let’s be honest, really harsh in my demand request that my content be removed from her blog. And then….

I noodled around my blog stats. And there’s yet another blog or website, linking to mine, and now I’ve got like, quadrupled the amount of normal everyday traffic! Hunh! And this blog linking mine is in the same, unintelligible language. And that’s not all. There are 2 other blogs linking to me, boosting my viewer visits. It’s really nifty– and it’s all about the tee-bags that my oldest DS is selling at the Farmer’s Market!

After 2 hours of blog detecting, I figured out that:

1. The foreign blogs are from Estonia.
2. There are no Estonia-English online translators. At least, there were none that were working yesterday morning.
3. DS1 now thinks he’s famous.

And is that all to this unusual day? Oh no! I find out that I am a day late and a dollar short two times over.  Not only have I missed witnessing the Perseid meteor shower by one day, but I didn’t see my own personal shot at the sun:  my hand dyed fabric was featured on the FRONT PAGE of Etsy! I missed it!  By one day!

I admit that I am not very conversant in the byways and highways of Etsy, so I didn’t know to check this kind of happening. I got a nice note from Monica, congratulating me on making the front page with one of my hand-dyed fabrics!

It was a gorgeous page (which expired this morning, so unfortunately I can’t show you), and I thank you again for putting me in such beauteous company! I’ve uploaded quite a bit more fabric:

including several 4 yard lengths that will make gorgeous, traffic-stopping wholecloth Wild Onion Jackets.

I’m just saying. In case someone in Estonia wants to blog about jackets.