MORE Leggings!

This weekend, I dyed four more pair of leggings.

Then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I dyed rayon blouses. You will have to wait till next week to see them. I still have to iron them.

We are driving tomorrow to CA to attend a 50th wedding anniversary party for third cousins (I think that is what they are or second cousins once removed). I never really understood how that works. They are having a big party at a Mariott hotel. These are some of my favorite cousins. I am looking forward to celebrating this event with them. I was almost 10 when they got married. Now I am almost ????

Rayon Ponchos

Monday and Tuesday I dyed the following rayon ponchos for a store in Tubac, AZ. Wednesday and today I ironed them after soaking and washing them. I love the colors. So much of it is serendipitous, which makes it so much fun. This is my opportunity to just play with color!!!

Farmer's Dress

Saturday, I delivered this farmer's dress to Ann Over, an artist friend of mine. She bought one earlier this month and asked me to dye her another with some color requests. She was thrilled with the colors and it looked beautiful against her complexion.

Ann is a wonderful artist and a master serigrapher. Visit her web-site to see some of her incredible work. I always learn something new from my visits with Ann. She frequently loans me books to read. While there this weekend, she showed me the Ulano film she uses to cut intricate stencils out of. Many of her pieces were created with as many as 18 different colors. The amount of layering is phenomenal.

More Playing With Color

Wednesday, I dyed again. The first dress was for a friend who wanted bright. So I just poured yellow and fuchsia dye over it.  

Then I proceeded to over dyed pieces that I had dyed last week. The next one is a crinkled peasant blouse that was originally dyed yellow and over dyed fuchsia. Again the back was prettier than the front. I finally figured out why! When manipulating the clothes I was putting the back on the outside - DUH!!! 

Also in the fuchsia bath went a rayon dress that had first been dyed in orange. I was so excited to take the pictures, I did not iron it first.

Then I dyed a cotton farmer's dress that was suppose to be for me. It was first dyed yellow and then over dyed violet. I was expecting a different result because I previously dyed a silk scarf this way and got a beautiful color combination. But that was several years ago and silk dyes differently than silk, etc. The results are wonderful; the only problem is that I am a winter and I look awful in the finished garment. I guess someone else will be wearing it.

Playing with Color

 I over dyed a blouse that an artist friend had bought from me. Originally it was a light turquoise. I told her that if she would want me to over dye it, I would. She took it home for awhile and then decided that she wanted more color. I over dyed it last Friday and took it over to her studio/gallery this weekend. She was all smiles!!!

 

For the past three mornings, I have been putting clothes into their first dye baths. These will be followed with over dyeing. One afternoon last spring, Cheryl, who is now a very good friend, and I spent several hours twisting, stuffing, tying and clamping the rest of the clothes blanks I had purchased from Dharma. Instead of my normal very symmetric manipulations, we laughed and manipulated the clothes in different directions. I think I will continue to do this. What do you think? 

First was lapis and avocado:

Cotton Dress

Cotton Leggings

Back of Cotton Leggings

 I think the back of these look better than the front. 

Rayon Sundress

Back of Rayon Sundress

Again the back is more interesting than the front. Is there a pattern here.

Rayon Crinkle Blouse

Next came Havanna Brown and Chino, two new dye colors that I used for the first time. They are now at the top of my list of colors. I love that some of the colors they are composed of separated and dyed the fabric different colors. Most dyers would be very unhappy with this, but I love results that are serendipitous.

Cotton Leggings - Havana Brown

Cotton Sundress - Chin

I think I will over dye these last two with turquoise.