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Thursday, August 6, 2015

Important Dyeing Info, Inspiration Pictures, and August Giveaway


First and most importantly is the dyeing information. I was so disappointed when I experienced a major color loss of some hand dyed sheets. They had been properly processed, or so I thought. They'd also been washed several times. They looked like this, the colors were very saturated and we loved them. 

Well they didn't stay that way. About two months later, and many washings, the top sheet decided to 'go pale'!  So, I've been trying to figure this one out. I ended up asking Candy Glendenning, from Candied Fabrics, if she had any thoughts on the subject. In her response she pointed me over to Vicki Welsh's blog and the extensive experimenting and post about a similar situation. The address for this is  as follows.  
Rather than me going into the whole process, I will let you read it and decide for yourself if you will change anything in your dyeing methods. I am going to do an experiment with previously dyed fabrics and all of the sheet sets that I did recently. I'll keep you posted on how things work out. 

Now for the INSPIRATION. Here are some pictures taken on Folly Beach, SC at sunrise. First my recent art quilt. I'm inspired to make another one with quite a bit of color change. 





Aren't those incredible colors? And it really did look like this. The wet sand radiated with the orange glow from the sunrise. We were standing on the pier, it was breathtaking!

And just a reminder about this month's GIVEAWAY ! The studio has too much in it, and things are going to find some new homes! Trims, buttons, commercial cloth, hand dyed cloth, etc etc etc. 
Post a comment to be entered. The winner(s?) will be chosen September 1, 2015. Best of luck to all. 
And if you share about those creative things you like to do, the package will be more in tune with your activities. 

May God bless the work of your hands,
Luann




9 comments:

Sewnuts said...

I love hand dyed fabric , but not into doing it myself! I've ordered RickyT's fabric and love working with it, after I bring myself to cut into it! Seeing your comments about blogging on the TQS forum, and that of several others, I feel I should really get back into it - I have one set up but have been remiss to post on it for about the last 6 years - so I think I'll go dust things off, and get blogging! I like also your mention of using the "notify by email when posting" as a great idea I'll have to keep in mind!

Monica said...

How disappointing that you're sheets faded - but it was useful to follow the trail to the page that gave so much information about washing and soaking dyed fabric.
Your art quilt is wonderful - I love those colours - and the beach photos are gorgeous - absolutely glowing.

Luann Fischer said...

So glad you both stopped by.
I think it's important to keep my blog interesting but not let it become a 'job' of sorts. I enjoy writing and sometimes I get carried away, then I'll be quiet for a month. My biggest desire is to share, share what is or isn't working for me. Share inspirations, books I've found useful, and even a new food I've tried and really enjoyed.

There will be a post in a few days of what's going on with the 'dieing dyes'! And my very scientific and professional opinion as to why things like this happen. Scientific? Professional? Well, I said I like to share, and laughter is meant to be shared. So, giggle or roar!

Thanks again for dropping by and leaving a comment. You both have your comments in for the drawing at the end of the month. Hope to see you back again before then,

Enjoy your weekend
Luann

Lynda said...

Luann, I would be interested in what you find out. I've never had that happen and do use Dharma's textile detergent.

Beautiful pictures and art quilt.

Lynda

Luann Fischer said...

Lynda,
My plan is to do a write up this week about the dye issue. I really don't want this to look like its a problem with dye when I really do believe it has more to do with cloth and 'completely' exhausting the dye and 'completely' washing/rinsing/soaking during the process. Knowledge of fiber content and what might have been used in the finishing of the product are just two variables that can't always be determined.
Soon I'll get my results information written up and posted.
Thanks for dropping by,
Luann
PS Best of luck on that clothing purge! It's so much easier to give something you still really like to an individual that would wear and enjoy it, than to drop it off at a destination. Just say to yourself, 'someone very special will fall in love with it and wear it a lot'.

Sewnuts said...

Luann - back again with a question - I'm going back to my "blogger" page, cleaning things up and changing some things in order to "get going " again and one thing that I cannot find is the "widget" to add the "email notification" box like you have - and I agree it's a great idea - so where do you find the "widgets"? I've gone through all the editing tools and can't seem to find it!

Sewnuts said...

And I've just answered my own question - I found the widget options under "layout" - will post my link when I get something up!

Gill said...

I love hand dyed fabric and I do some myself - I've always worried about dyes bleeding, especially reds! I've only used procion dyes and I'm not sure what 'Rit' dyes are???
Thanks for the link to Vicky Welsh's article - I'm going to check it out!

Luann Fischer said...

Gill,
To the best of my knowledge, Rit dyes are what one would call 'universal' dyes. That means they have some of 'everything' in them, that's why they can claim to dye any and all fabrics! So, that being said, there's a lot of unnecessary chemicals going down the drain, and one has to wonder what quality of dye is actually in them! It really is best to use appropriate dyes for the type of fabric that you are dyeing, and of course you want to use the correct auxiliary chemicals also!
Candy Glendenning has just introduced her newest dyeing class. Dyeing 104, Dyeing silks with Procion MX dyes and low water immersion. I've taken her dyeing classes for cottons and she is very thorough. I must have been sleeping when she went over the hot water washing process! Or just too darn antsy to do it properly! Lesson learned. Any who, this silk dyeing class does NOT use acid dyes, or steam! That's what makes it interesting to me. Silks may not be up your alley, but if they are, it's on sale at the present time!
Thanks for leaving a comment, I enjoy hearing from you,
Luann