Doris' Blog - Page 19 of 27

Hand dyed parfait

There was some dye left from the three colours (red, blue and black) of Procion MX dyes I used on the second day of snow dyeing. I decided to use the parfait technique described in Ann Johnston’s book: Color by accident.

I scrunched up the first metre of the pfd cotton in a small container, and began layering the leftover dyes. I started with the red dye.

Next came another layer of cotton and then the blue dye. You can see some light purple where the red and blue dyes mixed.

The last layer of cotton was then saturated with the black dye. The more you manipulate the fabrics, the more the colours will migrate to other layers. I didn’t manipulate the layers after I added the black, so there is no evidence of the red and very little of the blue on this topmost layer. It is still a very attractive piece.

What is your favourite flavour of parfait?

Dyeing cotton fabric with snow and Procion MX dyes

3 Comments / Fibre art / By dorisL

I forgot to include this snow dyed piece in my post last week. It is a lightweight cotton that was light olive in colour before it was dyed. The Nui shibori designs were made by stitching circles and diamonds.

My second day of snow dyeing resulted in more unique fabrics. The colours I used were similar but I used a less concentrated solution of dye. The result is more of the white background showing.

I also dyed two pieces of cotton canvas that I will use to make a tote bag. I folded the canvas as I did the PFD (prepared for dyeing) cotton that resulted in the mandala shape.

The canvas, of course is a much heavier fabric, so the design is not as detailed. as in the other fabrics. I look forward to seeing these two pieces sewn up.

My most favorite piece in this batch of snow dyeing is the honeycomb design that resulted below.

It’s snowing again and I’ve already prepared three more pieces of cotton. They are folded in wedge shapes and are covered with freshly fallen snow, yellow, turquoise and navy blue dyes. I can’t believe that I am happy to see the snow falling!

Results of Snow Dyeing

Fibre art / By dorisL

The snow dyed fabric looked a very dark before it was rinsed. I could see some purple and a little blue, but mostly it looked grey and black.

snow dyeing purple pre rinse — **Shibori folded fabrics ready to rinse**

After, the fabric was washed, the vibrant colours and stunning patterns were revealed. It’s always a surprise to see the washed results of snow dyeing, you can’t predict the colour or the design.

Snow dyeing purple square fold — **Itajime Shibori snow dyed square fold**

I love the piece below, it looks like you are looking through a leaded glass window!

**Itajime Shibori triangle fold snow dyed**

My most incredible piece of snow dyed fabric is the mandala shape below. A metre of fabric was folded into a wedge shape and the melting snow created this magical mandala!

Snow dyeing purple mandala — **Snow dyed mandala**

I dyed a few more pieces of fabric before the rain fell and melted all the snow. I will rinse and iron those fabrics and have them ready next week. I wonder if we will get more snow soon? I think I’ve found a new addiction!

Snow dyeing with Procion MX fabric dye

2 Comments / Fibre art / By dorisL

This is what it looked like in the corner of our backyard yesterday. A very light snow fell consistently throughout the day, prompting me to do some snow dyeing!

The fresh snow was perfect for dyeing fabric with Procion MX dyes. Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber recently posted tips on snow dyeing. She achieved some very beautiful results. I especially loved the mandalas shapes that she created.

I have done some snow dyeing in the past and have been happy with the results. What I haven’t tried is dyeing fabric using Shibori techniques to create mandala designs. I folded a one metre cut of fabric into a wedge and then refolded it into a rectangle.

The other two white pieces of fabric are fat quarters accordion folded into: a triangle and square. I used Nui Shibori on the olive fabric, creating a row of diamond and a row of circles, the rest is scrunched up. The fabrics were soaked in soda ash, wrung out and arranged in a plastic tub that I poked holes into for drainage.

I went outside and packed snow on top of the fabrics, piling up about four inches or so. I placed the plastic tub into another tub to catch the melted snow. I layered a few plastic yogurt lids underneath so that the perforated tub would sit above the melted snow.

I mixed three colours of dye: black, cerulean blue, and fuchsia and randomly poured the dye concentrate over the top of the snow. The entire project was placed safely into the laundry tub overnight. I expect that all the snow will have melted by the end of my work day today. I can’t wait to see the results!

Fuchsias – a flower quilt!

Fibre art / By dorisL

I took the photograph of the fuchsias a couple of years ago with the idea of using them in a quilt design. I took a workshop taught by Helen Garland through the Yorkshire Rose Quilters’ Guild of Toronto based on Ruth McDowell’s art quilting techniques.

In the class we learned to how to draft a pattern from our own photograph using Ruth McDowell’s technique. Helen was an excellent teacher, explaining the concepts, design and sewing techniques that make Ruth’s quilts so original.

I’ve focused my design on three of the larger fuchsias and the three small buds on top. I’ve eliminated extraneous leaves and flowers to focus on the elements that I thought would make a good design.

You can see my original design and the enlarged copy. The finished piece will be about 48″ x 56″. I am excited to be trying Ruth’s techniques. She has written a few books explaining her design and piecing techniques. The books are available on her website. The next logical step is to trace the design onto freezer paper. But, my next step is to pull fabrics from my stash – I can’t wait!

Indigo Shibori silk scarf with rust!

Fibre art / By dorisL

This silk scarf was found in our garage a couple of weeks ago, left outside from my last indigo dyeing weekend in the fall.

I brought the scarf to the member’s demonstration night at the Yorkshire Rose Quilters’ Guild of Toronto meeting in January. I unfolded the clamped scarf to reveal the great design and ….

RUST!!

I had used home canning snap lids as the resist. The snap lids were clamped around the silk scarf for three months, much too long, and the lids began to rust. I’ve rinsed, washed and washed the scarf, but the rust is permanent. I will cut up this silk scarf and use it as yardage in a quilt. I will have to keep better track of my scarves in the future. Have you lost anything you’ve worked on?

Fabric Fusion blocks

Quilting / By dorisL

I’ve finally started laying out the blocks for the Fabric Fusion quilt designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio. I started this quilt in a class I took with Weeks Ringle at QuiltCon in 2013.

We spent quite a bit of the class learning about value, saturation and fabric selection. We were encouraged to bring an assortment of fabrics to the class, including fabrics we loved, hated, from different genres. Weeks spent time with each person, going through the fabrics, selecting and eliminating from the pile to come to a beautifully curated collection. I learned a lot and it opened up new ideas about fabric selection. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to take a workshop from either Weeks or Bill to do so. They are excellent instructors with a breadth of knowledge in the field of design. They are also very lovely people, genuine and sincere.

**Patterns-Fabric Fusion by Modern Quilt Studio**

The Fabric Fusion pattern is available through their website. Have any of you completed any quilt designs from the Modern Quilt Studio?

Barrel chair upholstery completed!

4 Comments / upholstery / By dorisL

In the early summer I posted photos of our leather barrel chair that was in desperate need of being reupholstered. I chose fabric, stripped off the old leather and then it sat, and sat and sat taking up space.

Barrel chair before reupholstery by Doris Lovadina-Lee — **Barrel chair before**

Finally, I had the time to work on it during the holiday break.

Newly upholstered barrel chair by Doris — **Newly upholstered barrel chair**

This is our new chair. I love the beautiful colours of the stripped leather that I found at Designer Fabrics. I was able to get enough of the leather in two pieces to do the outside of the chair.

Side view of upholstered chair with stripped leather and fabric — **Side view of chair with leather**

The inside of the chair is a beautiful op-art piece of upholstery fabric. I love the dimensional look it has.

Matching pillow for newly reupholstered chair by doris lovadina-lee — **Matching pillow**

With the leftover bits, I made a pillow and added a beautiful fringe repurposed from an old pillow. It feels great having completed this project after such a long time. How long does it take you to complete your projects?

Fabric dyeing, Indigo and Shibori books

Fibre art / By dorisL

There are many books on fabric dyeing. I’ve listed a few of the titles that I’ve used. This is not an exhaustive list, just a few that I either own or have read and enjoyed.

Fabric to dye for by Frieda Anderson — *Fabric to dye for* by Frieda Anderson

Modern Color by Kim Eichler-Messmer book cover — *Modern Color: an Illustrated guide to dyeing fabric for modern quilts* by Kim Eichler-Messmer

Indigo: dye it, make it by Nicola Gouldsmith — *Indigo: dye it, make it* by Nicola Gouldsmith

Shibori for Textile Artists by Janice Gunner — *Shibori for textile artists* by Janice Gunner

Color by accident by Ann Johnston — *Color by accident* by Ann Johnston

Tie Dip Dye by Pepa Martin and Karen Davis — *Tie Dip Dye* by Pepa Martin and Karen Davis

***Handbook of Indigo Dyeing by Vivien Prideaux***

Shibori: the inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, Mary Kellog Rice and Jane Barton — *Shibori: the inventive art of Japanese shaped resist dyeing* by Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada, Mary Kellog Rice and Jane Barton

Some of these title are newly published, while others are classics in their field. Perusing these titles is a good place to start if you are interested in the history of dyeing, setting up your own dye workshop or just looking at beautiful textiles.

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Hand dyed canvas bag

4 Comments / Fibre art / By dorisL

I purchased white cotton canvas to make a bag. I dyed the canvas, hoping for beige, but got golden-yellow instead. It was a bit bright, so I overdyed with a teal green.

I was much happier with the look of the yellow and teal green Itajime Shibori pattern. I also dyed a piece of canvas with the same teal for the handles and bottom of the bag.

I love the results, the canvas is the right weight for an unlined bag. I added two pockets. The pocket below is made with an orange and white striped batik I made in Malka Dubrawsky’s dyeing class I took at QuiltCon in 2015.