Dying in the Yard....

 I love that my daughter is a creative person.

She is very logical and bright but also creative.

So, she decided she wanted to make a rug for the fair.

She needed fabric to tear in strips.

I was hesitant to rip great fabric we just bought into strips when it could be used for something else.

I also did not want to go spend more money on fabric than 3 rugs would cost.

So I suggested we use some old sheets I got at the thrift store and dye them.

Such soft muslin and the price was very right.

She agreed and chose some dye colors that she wanted.

Then we spent the afternoon with her learning to dye fabric.

  She wanted blues, green, and purple.

I love her color choices.

We mixed all her dyes.

I love ice cream buckets for this. 

 They are big enough to accommodate most things I dye.

 They have lids so unused dye can be saved til later.

She tore her sheet into equal size pieces. 

She wanted light and dark of each color.

It is key to wash and wet the fabric first. 

 Washing removes sizing.

  Wetting makes sure they dye takes more evenly.

That purple was so deep and beautiful.

She worked all afternoon.

She waited 30 minutes before removing each piece of cloth.

She rinsed until the water ran clear.

Then she hung them on this drying rack I got this spring at the thrift store.

I also found a striped sheet and she snagged that one.

It was neat to see how the stripes turned out in each color.

Note my husband's help in the picture below.

The rack kept blowing over so he hooked a very large fishing sinker to the bottom of the rack.

See it?

VERY LARGE....

Once she was finished with the dye, I dyed some things I wanted to do.

Coffee filters.

They fit perfectly in those ice cream buckets.

I leave the coffee filters in for 5 minutes or hours depending on how intense I want the color.

These were less than 15 minutes.

I put them over a tin to drip in the grass and then I hang them in my garage on a little rack by my sink.

They can stay there until they dry.

I also did a couple bags that I want to alter.

That purple is still pretty strong.

I like the splotchy look.

Then I did lace.

I recently bought yards and yards from a thrift store.

It is fun to see how the different laces take the dye in the same dye batch.

Green.

Purple.

I did lots in the purple.

You can see the synthetic lace takes the color differently than the natural fiber lace.

I love how these turned out.

Well, when my daughter gets her rug finished I will show it to you.

Thanks for stopping by....