Design your own fabric week is here! Easy for me, right? After all, I routinely design machine knit fabrics for my designs. So all I needed was to knit something, right?
Yeah, no.
The description for the challenge is this : print, dye, color, paint, stencil or whatever else you can think of to design a fabric that is all you and then use that material to create an outfit. Sure, knitting would fit into the “whatever else” but I thought this might be a good time to experiment with something a little different.
I bought 5 yards of unbleached muslin from Organic Cotton Plus along with 4 colors of reactive dye and soda ash. And I ordered a bunch of books from Amazon (still waiting for one of them) as well as supplies for making batik. I had these grand plans… I split the muslin into 1 yard lengths. Two of them were to be used with blue dye. The three others were for trying out a variety of techniques with three colors (yellow, pink, red). Then, I was going to pick out the prettiest one to make a skirt for souricette 2.
I dutifully read the books I had received. Interesting techniques but the dye baths! I just couldn’t. I took one lone yarn dyeing class when I was in school and everything was precise. Very precise. (Side note: I could tell my teacher wasn’t quite used to the scientific method. When I asked him about the margin of error on our instruments, he had no idea what I was talking about…) There was no way I was going to measure dye with a teaspoon and fabric by the yard. Just no. So I pulled out my notes from class and used those.
First up, blue. Midnight blue. I was going to do two yards of shibori, using two different kinds of resists. I weighed one yard of muslin to use for my calculations and doubled that. I prepared my fabric with the resists. Then, I prepared the dye bath. I chose a 3% concentration. I’ll spare you the details like how much water, salt and soda ash were needed. Just one thing. I made sure to go outside to measure my dye and mix it with water. That stuff isn’t good for your lungs so you want to be somewhere well ventilated when manipulating it. Once it’s mixed up with water, you won’t breathe the particles in anymore so it’s much safer. Don’t drink it though!
First fabric, my favorite.
I used wood and glass marbles and secured them in the fabric with small clear elastics. I created a few big bunches that got cinched together with another elastic (the big circles with little circles inside). It’s beautiful but not a good choice for a 2 year old. This fabric needs to be cut as little as possible to keep the pattern visible.
Second, the one I ended up using.
This one I twisted until it twisted back on itself. I held the twists in place with rubber bands at regular-ish intervals.
I said I had 5 yards, right? The three other pieces were supposed to be dyed yellow first. Then, I was going to try different resists: wax for a batik look, shibori again, and maybe printing with wax. But dyeing takes time. I had to prepare the dye bath and warm it up. 10 minutes in the bath, add 1/3 salt, 10 more minutes, 1/3 salt, 10 minutes again, last bit of salt, another 10 minutes to add the soda ash, and finally 45 minutes. Then remove from the dye bath, rinse thoroughly, add a dash of synthrapol, rinse again. I was late picking up souricette 2 at preschool and there’s no way I can do a dye bath while she’s with me. So I only did the blue.
Back to the challenge…
You’ve probably noticed I didn’t make a skirt, right? I was admiring my fabric and it very clearly talked to me. I swear I’m not crazy! It did not want to be a skirt. It said it wanted to be the Oliver + S Hide and Seek dress.
Which makes sense, I guess. It’s a great pattern for showcasing fabric! I decided to do the whole center front and back in my shibori.
I chose navy blue for the sides and sleeves. I forgot to take a picture but the pocket lining is my shibori fabric too. The buttons are coconut.
I wanted to keep a very earthy, modern hippie look.
We took the girls to a local park for the pictures. The park is on both sides of the street and there’s an underpass where I took the pictures. It’s quite clean as far as these things go. No graffiti and the only “trash” to be found was rocks and leaves. But there was a really cool surprise that I’d never noticed. A mural.
Looks like it was made by kids. It’s the earth. Looks like it was an Earth day project or something and it looks old-ish. Souricette 2 was fascinated by it.
And it fit really well with my modern hippie vibe!
I promise souricette 2’s next dress will NOT be blue. It may be my favorite color and it may bring out her eyes but I need to change it up!
Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?
Deux souriceaux 
Lovely blues -nice job
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
How very brave and creative of you! The only brave thing we did this week was to veer from our favorite pallete of navy blue! (We love it because of the whole eyes thing too!)
LikeLike
Thank you! And hey, I didn’t manage to explore new colors! And I just realized I’m using blue again next week…
LikeLike
Nicely done! I love the way the fabrics turned out. You did a great job on the dyes and it does sound quite time consuming. I haven’t dyed anything since I was in school, but I might have to give it a go again. 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you! It was quite time consuming but it can be perfect to combine with something like knitting or hand sewing. And it’s so much fun!
LikeLike
Oh, I love it! Both pieces of your fabric are beautiful. The dress is charming and looks so pretty with your special fabric. know what you mean about fabric talking to you…Mine does all the time! 😉
LikeLike
Thank you! I think it may be my favorite dress ever. I smile whenever I look at it! I guess it’s the fabric telling me it’s happy I listened to it… (That may be going a bit far…)
LikeLike
Great job dying. That can be very scary.
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
amazing!
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
So pretty!
~Michelle
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
This is so pretty! I love it! No shame in using a color that looks so good on her all the time, lol! I bet it was pretty fun making that fabric too!
LikeLike
Thank you! I did have a lot of fun. It’s too bad dyeing takes so much time because it got my creative juices flowing and I now have tons of idea I want to try out!
LikeLike
gorgeous! Your dye job is fantastic!! Love the finished look and everything about this dress. .I’m loving the PR&P theme this week! Emily@nap-timecreations.com
LikeLike
Thank you so much! I’m very happy with it as well.
LikeLike
You picked a great pattern to showcase your beautiful dye job. Very nice job!
LikeLike
Thank you so much!
LikeLike
Wow! I love your results. The pattern is the good frame for your fabric indeed. The dress turned out so special and your model is like an earthy angle.
LikeLike
Thank you for your kind words.
LikeLike
So very pretty. Love the fabric. I hope you will use the first one as well. It’s gorgeous!
LikeLike
Thank you! I will most definitely use the first one too. Possibly for myself! I just need to find the right pattern.
LikeLike
I love the fabric. And I love that you continued it down the entire front. This is my favorite Hide and Seek dress yet and I think that’s why. Thanks for linking up to Inspire Us Thursdays!
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike
[…] 12: The Oliver + S dress that I made for the PRP fabric design theme. She loves it. I love it. It gets […]
LikeLike
[…] 1 did about half the work on hers herself. I showed her the piece I had dyed before. She wanted to know how I’d made the big circles with the little circles inside them and I […]
LikeLike
[…] are the best. That’s a total of 12 outfits this year! Click through each and every link to see them all (or […]
LikeLike
[…] used the other shibori panel I made last year. I’d always wanted to make myself something but that muslin was unbelievably off […]
LikeLike