Shibori Techniques

This week my kids FINALLY went back to school!!!  I love my kids but 10 weeks of school holidays puts a bit of a damper on any kind of creative expression.....Anyway back to it!!!

This week I am trying out some other shibori techniques, I have been watching you tube videos of how the masters do it in Japan.  If only my fingers were that nimble and quick!

Here a 1/4 metre was folded in half then machine sewn with large basting stitches.  The stitches were then pulled tight.

 This is a fat quarter which has been pleated then machine basted.

 This fat quarter was folded in four and hand basting in a wavy pattern.  The stitches were then gathered.  I have attached a chopstick to one side so that the threads wouldn't come undone and it gave me tension to pull the fabric tight. (sadly one of the rows came undone when the thread broke)  Its not a mistake - just a redesign!

With this piece I have marked two inch by two inch dots, add a bead under each dot and secure with thread.  I am sure the Japanese masters could have this finished in a matter of minutes but I have to be patient and it will take me a while.  I do find it relaxing though.

I hope to do some with clamps as well before I do the dyeing next week. I will post the results next week.

This week I also met the sister of one of my quilting friends and she has just been on a course on natural dyeing.  This is something I have been thinking about as I wonder how environmentally friendly the procion dyes are on the environment.  I would love to hear your thoughts about this.....

Happy Quilting!

Challenge quilt finished - Opposites attract

Well yesterday was reveal day for the http://aroundtheworldin20quilts.blogspot.com.  The challenge was Opposites attract.

Here is my piece:

"Opposites Attract"

detail of quilting

detail

detail red embroidery

I have always loved zentangles and it seemed like the perfect "opposite".  This piece was designed by my daughter Celine (15).  It is machine embroidered, machine quilted, 100%cotton front and back with peltex inner.  No black and white is complete without a dash of red (hand embroidered).

AND it was finished 3 whole days before the deadline!

 Loved making this piece - now onto the next challenge - "the road less travelled".

Today I am doing some more fabric dyeing for my friend Jesse (http://whatshequilts.com) who is making this amazing rainbow colour quilt with some of my hand dyes!

This would explain the yellow and blue fingers today!

Back to work!!!

The last few weeks have been busy as I have had visitors since the end of May for my daughters high school graduation.
Now that calm has been restored, its time to get back to work and do some dyeing!

Devore cut silk rayon scarf

Shibori - Turquiose and Fushia

jokamamotextiles.etsy.com

I also converted the bedroom back into a sewing room and reorganised it with a lot of help from my friend Jesse:

Thanks Jesse!!!  I hope I can keep it looking this good!!!!

I have been doing more sewing lessons over the holidays and have some really lovely students, sadly one of them is moving back to Australia.  I will miss her and I  hope she will continue sewing.

Well that's it from me - time for ANZA Quilt group.....

Devore Cut Scarf Pink/Purple

Devore Cut Scarf - Curls 58 x 14 inches (145 x 32 cm) Pink/Purple -  Made of Silk and Rayon

Hand dyed by me using  procion dyes. This would brighten up any outfit!

http://www.mariannebos.etsy.com

Marianne

Dyeing is contagious!

On Saturday my daughter Brooke sat her SAT exam.

When she got home from her exam she spied the left over dye from my dyeing session last week and decided that throwing about a bit of dye is the perfect stress reliever! Funny how contagious this dyeing thing is!!!!

Liquid dye on ice

Close up of Liquid dye on ice

Then I dyed a couple more of the Onsies

Today I was busy making a block for a friend  who loves Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I think I quite like this mosiac style block! I hope she likes it!

Happy Quilting!

Fabric, fabric and more fabric

My fabric arrived this week from Hancocks of Paducah and I am excited about starting  new quilt/s.

40 fat 1/4's Mod Century by Jenn Ski

Yesterday it was time to break out the dyes and fill some of the back orders from the British Club.

2 sets of clear brights

2 shibori dyes

Also I had done some bleaching earlier in the week and these were overdyed.

overdyed with red and purple

Needs to be redyed as I wanted it to be more green

3 x Onsies were also on the dyeing list:

All this dyeing was made much easier by the fan that I got for my birthday last week.  The kitchen was only a balmy 29 degrees instead of the usual 40 degrees.  Very pleasant!

Also for my birthday was a book by Pokey Bolton:

Oh what a great week!

Happy Quilting!

Yesterdays dyeing results

Here are the results for yesterdays dyeing session:

LOVE the boldness of these!

This one has black added to the colours

Fushia gradient

Turquoise gradient

Pity the change from light to dark was not a bit more subtle

Good even colour but needs to be brighter - I might redye

All in all I was quite happy with the results.  Dyeing is not an exact art and I learn something new everytime or how I would do something different next time.

My new fabric is on its way so hopefully I can get some more dyeing done in a couple of weeks.

Today I am off to ANZA Quilt Group!

Happy Quilting

Friends to Dye with! - Ice Dyes

My friend Jesse came over today to do some fabric dyeing:

First we did 12 clear colour fat quarters.  These ones were given lots of "massaging" in the bag so as to get a more even colour and less mottling.

Next we did the "ice" dyeing - I have always loved what quilters in snowy climates could do with snow dyes but as there is no snow in Singapore, ice cubes would have to do:

Fabric on cake rack with ice on top

Sprinkle dye powder on top and wait for ice to melt (it was 38 deg today)

Love the texture on these

Next we did the "shibori" dyeing on the pvc pipe:

Fushia, orange, yellow and black

And lastly some green/black gradiants and a fushia/black piece:

What a great day - we gots lots done and it was great fun but boy was it hot in the kitchen!

I think next time we will close the outside doors and crank the aircon in the lounge up and hope some of the cool wafts into the kitchen.

Happy quilting!