I am Dyeing

A lot of my work centers around death and dying and there is something so morbidly humorous when I say "I'm going to go dye". Can't help but giggle just a little bit.

I started making a retro dress a few weeks ago with a cheap pattern I got at Jo-Anns. Linen was on sale for 40% off so I figured I would snatch that up. It's not cheap material, but it's really nice summertime fabric, as it is very breathable.

I really wanted to try my hand with my burned fabric technique at the bottom of the dress, but I also wanted a little bit more color. My original plan was to use tea leaves or coffee grounds to stain the fabric, but Rachael said she still had some leftover black walnut solution from October and has been wanting to dye again...hehee.

So, she helped me dye on Friday.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us during the dye process. But it was pretty simple. We got the area that I wanted to dye wet with water first because I wanted to have it fade. The black walnut solution was on low heat (but still pretty hot) and we had to wear gloves otherwise we would end up with brown hands. We soaked and layered and soaked some more at intervals of 15 minutes. When I was pretty satisfied with the color, we rang it out and let it dry over night.

The color here is considerably darker than the actual outcome because the dye has to dry fully before you rinse it in hot water- then gradually colder water until it runs clear. Once that was done and after it was dried, I started to iron on the "press and peel" backing where I would burn the fabric. This is handy in keeping the burnt fibers together instead of falling off.

I burned it with my blow torch in 3-4 inch increments...making sure to have a wet cloth in my lap to snuff out the fire. After burning the length of the dress, I just simply ironed on the lace at the bottom.

...and continued to iron the rest of the dress. Rachael warned me that linen wrinkles very easily, and with all the wrenching and twisting, this dress was very wrinkled.

From here it was just a matter of attaching the bias tape and the buttons!

Then finally finished!

Too bad for this March weather though. I really wanted to wear it! Perhaps this will be my designated dress for when I sell my jewelry at the Artisan's Market (hopefully) this summer!