It has been a beautiful, sunny day here - warm enough to sit outside after a week of grey, damp weather.
The sunshine reminded me that I have not updated you on the results of my solar dyeing. You may remember that
here I told you about the book I had been reading called 'Slow Stitch' which included instructions for slow/solar dyeing.
It's been a lovely, sunny autumn overall so I was able to play with lots of jars of fibres and natural dye.
Each jar contains a half a teaspoon of alum, to help the dyes take, the matter I am using to take the dye from plus an A4 piece of linen or cotton fabric, a skein of cotton or linen thread, some lace and some ricrac. The contents were covered with hot water, given a good stir and then left in the sun for at least two weeks.
I have had some really good results which I have documented in a little record book.
It is interesting to see how the different fibres take the dye.
So here is my collection of fabric and threads - a pleasing variety of colours.
These are my lace's and ricrac.
I plan to start again in the spring trying some different ingredients, in the meant time I want to make a start on slow stitching my collection so far.
Beautiful results!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful results and they do have a really natural look to them. Well done x
ReplyDeleteLovely subtle shades. Now I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with them!
ReplyDeleteI agree, beautiful results!
ReplyDeleteWow! love how they all turned out. Love the morning glory one. I have never thought of dying ricrac.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting experiment, some great results,
ReplyDeletexx
Oh, my, this looks intriguing! I would enjoy something like this! Your results are gorgeous! XO
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Lin, some very pretty colours there.... I wonder what else you'll find for your next session! I've never tried dyeing but this way you describe sounds very do-able!
ReplyDeleteHello Lin,
ReplyDeleteOh they turned out beautifully, so much nicer than the dyes made up with chemicals too. Enjoy your slow stitching.
Happy days.
Bev.
Its a lovely book - good to see that you have successfully followed some steps to dyeing. I wish I had - I turned to Dylon for a recent project and its just not the same!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I have that book and have admired her dyeing. I love the soft colors that you've achieved and how you tried different things. I'm impressed you kept such good records-that will be so helpful in the future when you want to repeat what you've done.
ReplyDeleteHappy stitching,
Judy
Oh Lin, these are really lovely and going to be so useful, how clever, I like the morning glories colour
ReplyDeleteLovely colours and only after two weeks.
ReplyDeleteSo that's why I have alum in the cupboard...LOL I completely forgot about my adventure with dying many years ago. You can get such amazing colours from using flower petals and such.
I love what you have done here ....... I will have to find where I can purchase alum from first of all, but I'm always keen to work on things we can easily do ourselves and this sounds very simple! I love the blue/ lilac fabric ....... and wow, when you lay them all out together you have quite a lovely selection of fabrics to work with!
ReplyDeleteI love the natural colours you have made! You have recorded the details very neatly .... they will be a most useful record over time!
ReplyDeleteVery pretty results! Look forward to seeing them in future projects.
Barbara x