Dyeing (to have cool air)

I havent been able to work in the sewing room as 5 of our airconditioners broke down last week so yesterday seemed like a great day to do the dyeing that I have been meaning to do since July.

I dyed a set of 12 muted dark rainbow colours as well as 12 muted light rainbow colours.  While preparing the light colours they seemed very disappointing but once they had cured and dried the colours were very nice.

Muted colours light & dark

Also overdyed the two fabrics that Gina and I used the bleach pen on.  One we overdyed red and the other yellow.  The colours really came out well.

Discharged fabric overdyed with red

I also tried a shibori technique on a pale yellow fabric that I had dyed a while back but never really liked the colour of.  The 1/2 meter fabric was folded double lengthwise and a seam sewed down one side to make a tube.  It was then pushed onto a tennis ball container scrunching the fabric up and securing with rubberbands. Purple  dye was added and left to dry.

Shibori (not yet washed and ironed)

It was great experimenting with the colours and different techniques.  I definately think I will do the shibori and the discharge again.

The aircon guys have been and we have cool air again!  Yippee!

colour swatches

Today  and yesterday my son Luke has been home sick with a cold and asthma so it seemed like a good time to get some dyeing done while he was blobbed out in front of the tv.  I have been trying to dye a particular colour orange for a while but didnt have the right colour dyes.  They finally arrived on Monday (dont get me started about Speedposts service!!!!) and today it was the right time to try them out.

While the oranges were "curing" I made some colour swatches for the rainbow fabrics that I dyed the other week.  This seems like a good was of keeping track to what I dye.

Well the oranges are washed and dried and are completely the wrong colour .  Hmm I think this learning curve is going to be bigger than expected!

Till next time....

Visitors from home and our dyeing frenzy

The last two weeks have been pretty busy with my parents visiting from New Zealand and the kids having started school holidays.  It was great to be able to show my parents where we live and a little bit of Singapore.  The 9 days that they were here just flew by and there are still so many things that I want to be able to show them.  I guess they will just have to come back again!

Mum and Dad in Chinatown at the Buddah Tooth Relic Temple. Afterwards we went to the Chinese Heritage Museum and then enjoyed a lovely lunch at the local hawker centre.

My parents also bought some origami papers with them and it kept my children busy (and very quiet) the whole afternoon!

We had a lovely dinner with them at the Brazilian BBQ place before they left.  It was fantastic!

The last couple of days I have been busy dyeing more fabric.  Celine has been helping me make some of the more "interesting" pieces.  We have been laying the fabric onto a piece of plastic sheeting on the deck, then adding our colours.  We added another piece of fabric on top of the first to soak up the excess dye.  Strangely enough the top piece (which ended up yellow and green)  turned out quite a different colour from the bottom one (purple and orange)  Not sure why that happened!  Any suggestions?  We still have some resist to try out and want to try our hand at marbelling fabric with shaving cream.

Will post some photos of the finished pieces soon. 

We have also been busy stocking up on winter gear for our "summer holidays"!  Ski jackets and beanies for our trip home.  We are all soo excited about spending some time at home and catching up with old friends and family. 

On Wednesday Celine and I are going to a new painting group.  She is very excited.  Will keep you posted.....

Going Green

Yesterday was "Green" day! 

The top row is the broadcloth which is only 90cm wide and the bottom ones are on the calico which is 150cm wide.  I have to say that I prefer the broadcloth to the calico with regard to texture.  There wasn't much difference in colour between the two  but my all time favourite would still be the mercerised cotton from Dharma trading. The mercerised cotton is about the same price as the others except for the shipping of course.

 This is my progress to date.....now to find some buyers.......

My Etsy shop