Thanks Sandy. I'm kind of excited about trying it out. I was really surprised when he offered to help me. He really enjoys trying new projects like that though. I just can't get him to sew. He'll help me in just about all aspects of quilting but he won't sit at the sewing machine and piece the blocks. He even gets a kick out of running the quilting machine sometimes.
Hugs, Mika
Nope no way. He's all mine and it took me a lot of years to find him. Well he actually found me. But after 15 years of marriage I think I'll have to be on the lookout for possible kidnappers. Hmmm this may be a way for me to travel with him more often. Sounds like he's in need of a bodyguard now. lol. ;-)
Hey this gives me an idea. How does The Traveling Hand Dying Hubby sound? We could always start a new business and travel around the country handdying fabric for quilters. LOL. How fun would that be?
Hugs, Mika
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!! I really did not give the subject line a second thought as to how that might be read. I was just thinking along the lines of him doing the hand dying. It has sure given me some chuckles after reading some of the replies. Since his favorite color is blue I guess we'll have to dye him blue. ;-)
Hugs, Mika
Blue it is.
Hugs, Mika
We should get together sometime and dye up a batch.
Hugs, Mika
Lemon yellow would be a clear color -- tan would be a "muddy" color. Clear colors have little or no gray or brown, while muddy colors do. (It doesn't reflect at all on their attractiveness or usefulness; it's just a descriptive term. *grin*)
Dharma and ProChem are the two most popular in the US. I use Dharma because a) I knew about them first and b) they are less than a hundred miles from me, so I get UPS from them overnight. They are *very* friendly and helpful. I've heard just as many good things about ProChem, so you probably wouldn't go wrong with either place.
Thanks Kay. I've decided to order the starter kit from Dharma that has the book in it. DH and I were talking about what we could use to mix the dye in. I told him I need some buckets. We looked at each other and at the same moment had the same thought. Kitty litter buckets. I can clean them out really good and use them and since they have really tight fitting lids I can just store it in them. I'm getting so much great advice here that I can't wait for my kit to come in so I can get started.
Hugs, Mika
That sounds like fun. Hey I have a utility sink in my basement so if you ever get the urge to dye again just come on over.
Hugs, Mika
I'm dying to try the shaving cream dyeing they had a while back on simply quilts. There are instructions on the Dharma website too.
Any one else remember the posts from years ago about "quilters dying in plastic bags" and the images it evoked?
Linda PATCHogue, NY
A few years ago I taught an informal class on hand dyeing. The hostess sent an e-mail to all the invitees saying I would be "demonstrating dying", and that there'd be some opportunities for hands-on experience, too. She got a few phone calls over that! ROFLOL
Sometimes I run down to the doughnut shop and ask for frosting buckets. They are about 5 gallon, and are food grade. They work well for both dying and fermenting, though I could wish them about 2 gallons bigger for wine or mead making.
NightMist
Yep-- but it is a great way to do the fabric dyeing. Doesn't take a lot of space and so on. And you can get lots of different gradations of a color that way too. Ziploc bags are less likely to break than jars-- at least around here.
Pati, > I'm dying to try the shaving cream dyeing they had a while back on
Hold off on most of the buckets... start with fat quarters and something that holds about a pint for your dye containers. You might want some plastic squeezy bottles for dye concentrate, but don't worry about that at first.
You'll get the idea of dyeing with fat quarters or half yards just as well, and you'll not have the trouble of handling yards of wet fabric yet. A big plastic fast food drink cup will hold a yard of most fabrics in the Color-by-accident method -- you actually want the fabric jammed up a bit, instead of sloshing around in lots of dye, like you'd have for level-dyeing (dyeing a single color evenly). If you've done Ye Olde Rit In The Kettle On The Back Of The Stove: Stir-like-crazy-or you'll-get-streaks method, the color-by-accident method is really almost a polar opposite. In fact, the hard part for me (a veteran stir-like-crazy dyer) was breaking myself of stirring... it's the shade and color variations that are so interesting and I was making mud by stirring too much.
You might want two buckets to start with -- one for holding wet, scoured or PFD fabric before dyeing, and one for holding rinsed, dyed fabrics. I also make extensive use of a couple of plastic colanders from the dollar store for holding fabric as I rinse it. Plastic salad tongs are also nice if you don't like working in gloves.
When you pull that first ugly fabric out of the dye cup, do not despair. (I seem to have a particular talent for making dull greens!) Rinse well. Rip that wet fat quarter into about a 6-7x18 and a 12-14x18" strip and put the smaller one aside. Crumple the larger one and toss it into a dye bath of a different color or darker shade and overdye. Rinse again then tear that strip into a similar sort of split -- retain the smaller one, and toss the larger into another color and overdye again. Rinse one more time, split it again into halves, and overdye the last half one more time. Then line them all up and compare. Bet you'll have improved the original quite a bit.
Enjoy. You'll have more fun the second time through, and the third time will be even more interesting!
Kay
Frosting by the bucketful.... drool.....
Wendy
NightMist wrote:
Howdy!
oooo--you make this sound so > >> Thanks Kay. I've decided to order the starter kit from Dharma that has the
Try it! It's actually relatively cheap -- library book, a couple yards of muslin and three basic dyes, some washing soda, and equipment that's scroungeable. A dust mask is also nice when you make up the stock solutions of dye powder in plain water, but you can even improvise that with a wet handkerchief over your nose and mouth for the first time or two.
The first ones I dyed sorta looked best cut into 2" squares, but they made a great inset on a shirt when you set a whole strip of them set on point. The only mistakes you can really make are stirring the fabric in the dye until you get mud, and forgetting to add the washing soda. Much, much less messy (imo) than level-dyeing.
Kay
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