Most everyone in my family has a creative side even if they won't admit it. On my most recent trip back home I got to dye fabric with the local Lose Threads Quilt Guild. I learned that you have to wash your fabric before hand and keep it wet before dying. We used regular cotton fabric.
My aunt Pam and cousin Kerry with their fabric.
The fabric was pre-cut into small sections so different color combinations could be created for use in quilting later.
Fabric dye containers.
The fabric dye was very much like your home printer. The main colors were turquoise, yellow, fushia red, and black. The combination of these colors can achieve almost all colors. We also had a few small tubs of different colors to create some rich colors more easily.
They keep the same recipe from year after year.
If you are a creative soul that also misses high school science class, this project is for you. Different powders, different ratios and measurements, and rubber gloves were needed to dye the fabric.
Pre-mixed dyes.
We pre-mixed some of the more popular colors. This made the dying go more smoothly.
Mixing colors.
We placed each dyed piece of fabric in individual zip plastic bags.
Mixing up a mess.
It was fun to watch the kids getting into the process. They were little whirling dervishes of color! Miss Frizzel would be so proud!
Individual bagged colors.
The colors are kept in bags for a few hours or till the next day. The longer they are kept in the bags the more vidid the colors get.
Clean up was pretty beautiful!!
Clean up was pretty easy. And beautiful too! We made sure to cover all tables with durable plastic tablecloths which made cleanup effortless.
Washing out the fabric.
We then washed out the fabric in hot water and a couple of washes in the wash machine with a soap specially created to set the color.
Our final results.
The final fabric turned out gorgeous! The wrinkles in the fabric created beautiful modeling and made unique pieces of fabric art. I can't wait to see what they create with them!