Not much sewing happening around here!

Not much sewing but lots of dyeing and a bit of knitting ;)

As I go through a lot of procion dyes and they have a limited life on cotton, I thought I'd try them out as acid dyes (as you can do that too!) Simple Turquoise, Fuschia and Yellow and I couldn't help myself but make rainbow yarn hehe.

Procions start to lose the capability to bond with cotton the older they get but the dye portion of them is fine, its just the "glue" so to speak that breaks down. So using them as acid dyes I prepared the yarn - Bendigo Woollen Mills Melody in this case- with a vinegar soak as per normal wool dyeing. I then applied dye as normal, wrapped in cling wrap and steamed inside a steriliser. It worked! and I am thrilled at the result, and hoping some of my favourite colours translate ok to wool too.

And then I couldn't resist as I needed to knit it up to see how it turned out, I CO Celias emergency 1 day hat for my youngest. Great knit and a free pattern too! It just squeezed in with enough to weave in the end left over (ok I made it fit lol) She loves it to bits too which is pretty good for a not quite 2yo! My older girl Ellie likes it too, and it fits her as well, but she isn't allowed to touch it with Kayla around, bossy much?

I have overflowing bags of undyed yarn and just slipped and ordered some more Melody, whoops! so better get dyeing some more...

aha! a hat!

Hooray it's finished!!!

This hat had been giving me curry as I couldn't work out the best way to dye it, I even had a miserable test run on one of dd's old hats (lets just say its ummm colourful now but not quite how I wanted it lol). Then I tried playing with the sodium alginate for painting with dye instead. It thickens the dye so it doesn't run everywhere. Of course my first attempt with that was hilarious...I still have a jug of goo! what was rather interesting looking lumpy grainy stuff, actually turned to a gel the next day and went quite thick, like jelly!

Did anyone see Masterchef episode with the carnival/beach challenge, where they were making popcorn icecream, and Claire and Jonathon put in a heap of this stuff to thicken it, they had to guess how much to use. I had to laugh as thats the stuff I'm using exactly, but they were cooking with it.

My results were similar to theirs, but with dye! hehe Its actually seaweed of all things. It does work quite well for dye thickening, but then I'm no artist so then couldn't figure out how to paint it on, a couple of singlets to practice on and I still wasn't happy... was I ever going to get this hat finished?????  I even had a couple of goes putting the gooey dye in squirty bottles but nah, not worth the effort.

Then inspiration struck (yeah I know its more like what I usually do - thats slow inspiration for you... ) and tada! end result, one tie dyed hat... its still damp and drying but thought it was about time for a pic, dyeing with procion dyes can be so prolonged, especially in winter I feel like I'm not getting anywhere so piccies help me feel like I'm achieving hehe.

My other challenge I'd been wanting to try was a infant sized hoodie, it had been sitting in my basket for a month or two waiting for the chance and inspiration. In the end I grabbed it the other day, threw it in the soaking solution, and tied it, why not have another rainbow... lol. I am rather fond of my rainbow colours :)

So here I am quite pleased, a couple of the projects that had been stumping me as to how to dye them, and in the end they actually turned out like most of my items hehe! But I'm very happy with the results. Don't mess with what works is perhaps something I should keep in mind ;)

Kaylas new longies!

Kaylas new Fairy Ribbons longies! A marathon effort, took nearly 2 months, yikes! Just haven't had time each night to knit as I've been dyeing instead :) Gorgeous Ladybug Loops organic Aran, and the pattern is Ladybug Loops Longies. I just love how they turned out. They haven't been blocked or lanolised yet, definitely need to get onto that this week. I've knitted this pattern so many times and keep going to try a different one, but this one works so well!

I've now done a couple of tension swatches with some divine new yarn from Celias Basket its so soft and luscious. Next project is In Threes a cardigan for Kayla... lets hope its ready before summer hehe.

Finally my own space!

Finally my own little dyeing nook!

Ok, a work in progress but at least I don't need to pack up and down at the kitchen table anymore, and what a relief that is! This is my new "studio" (its not much of a studio yet but its a start lol). I plan on taking over most of the garage and setting up a little display and packing area as well, plus setting up my sewing machine and overlocker so I can get back to sewing. At the moment I'm settling for functional, and child safe with the safety gate keeping Kayla out of there, I can keep it set up all the time.

My dyeing table (I'm hoping to get a bigger, longer table but for now theres no room so the old outside table has been claimed) Its so good to leave everything set up ready to go, and I can duck out there at any time

The only place I have to put my long flat items at the moment is the top of the chest freezer, but its better than trying to keep them in the laundry lol. These stockings are nearly all destined for Swings and Roundabouts!

I can't wait to do more yarn dyeing but that has to wait until the current orders are completed! Oh and sewing well thats a bit hard atm, I'm afraid theres no more sewing challenges for me for a few months at least.

The last couple of weeks have been enough of a challenge (on top of a lot of orders to dye/pack/send, and dyeing some rainbow stockings for Swings and Roundabouts, a local shop which I'm really excited about stocking in hehe!). I've also been trying to work out how to dye a hat! Perhaps I should have dyed some fabric and tried to sew it up, but having never attempted to make a hat before I went for an already made one.

My first effort with one of Ellies old preschool hats didn't go so well although Kayla loves it, because its not flat, the dye just ran everywhere and mingled too much. So this week I've been playing with thickening dyes to see if that would help and I think thats the way to go :)

So I've been busy :P

I haven't blogged for a few weeks, I began to a couple of times but got sidetracked again :) Very busy dyeing my little fingers off but have also been knitting, sewing and dyeing for a swap I was involved in on Rav!

unfortunately I was rushing to the PO to get the express deadline and didn't take a pic before I posted it all off, but the pic up above is the Travelling Woman shawl I knitted for my recipient Vanessa! I also hand dyed some Quilters cotton in shades of deep blue and jade and sewed a wee project bag for her. I hope she likes it all and can use it. Its in a gorgeous BFL Evoke sock yarn called Depth from the Yarn Cafe.

Amazingly my swapee also knitted the same shawl for me in almost identical yarn, in fact yarn that I almost bought for Vanessas shawl, which I absolutely LOVE! So I'm very spoilt :) here is a piccy of my lovely shawl and I also recieved an awesome scarf, some amazing buttons and gorgeous fabric from my swap, plus some goodies for the kids! I really need to take another pic of this gorgeous shawl, its so lovely to have received one back the same that I knitted :D

Then I played with some more dyes, who needs boring white socks anyway :P Kayla loved her new "shoes" lol. Though she does know them as socks now, she loves them. Wore them all over the yard so I had to then scrub them clean again :) I've just dyed a heap more for us, my SIL and gorgeous nieces and a friends daughter too. I love dyeing socks! I 've also dyed a heap more shirts too but you'll have to head over to the FB page to check those out, if you haven't already.

I've also been experimenting with bleach tie dyeing, and overdying with bright colours, a good result but unfortunately the colours did wash out a little too much (could have been I left it soaking too long too). I'm not sure whether the dyes weren't strong enough or the bleach stopped them reacting with the fabric properly, but its fun and will investigate further and get some more ingredients for a better go next time.

Next up is a shibori experiment, I'm having so much fun exploring the realm of fabric dyeing, I definitely need to dye some more quilters cotton too and make myself another project bag or two. 

anyway, enough for now, Happy Mothers Day to you all! Thanks for listening :)

Some explosions of colour

I've been flat out with some orders and some fabric experimenting. I love the way they turned out and hope I get to dye some more and get sewing soon :)

Dyeing with large pieces of fabric is much more time consuming, depending on technique used. These pics were taken in the shade so are a little darker than how they are, but in direct sunlight they were washed out. I need to find the perfect time and place for photos, the clothesline will do this time however!

This was a test on some cotton drill, several different techniques but using just mulberry, fuschia and violet dye, I did another test on some cheesecloth (not pictured) with more colours and that turned out well. It will become a rainbow skirt for one or both of the girls :)

These are also cotton drill, a custom for Maggie Made Pop over and check out her site, she has some awesome 3 in 1 baby bags that convert to a playmat and sleeping bag for on the go with baby! I can't wait to see the end result! You can also find Maggie Made on Facebook and Made It and get sneak peeks of whats coming :)

A sneaky peek at whats coming

These aren't all for me, in fact maybe only one. I am exhuasted, and there are even more hiding in the wash, the dyeing bucket and on the drying rack lol

Hoping they are something yummy for everyone, I love them, in fact I'd keep nearly all of them! Trying to dye boy colours is proving challenging but I made up some more colours tonight to make it more interesting. Will need to order more dyes next week too, running out of supplies and some colours.

Plenty more white shirts are awaiting me too, all prepped ready for dyeing but I think I'll take a day or two off and just finish off the ones curing and washing now.

Having a fantastic time with it all though. My facebook page Rainbows and Ringlets is at Rainbows and Ringlets drop by sometime! I'll be doing a giveaway soon when I reach 100 fans :)