More dyeing

Woad seeds ripe for harvesting

Various clothing items

The really hot weather which has thankfully broken has ripened the woad seeds beautifully. I bought one plant two years ago, I reckon I am going to have a few more to plant next time around. As they are biennial I will plant half the seeds now and half next year.

I have been doing a fair bit of eco printing and dyeing recently of clothing from charity shops for the 'Worn' part of our exhibition. Here are some curing before being washed.

Learning new tricks and a lovely sunset

Late afternoon sun last Thursday

Attempts at sewing with cotton jersey

I have been making my own clothes for a long time but have never worked with cotton jersey before. I want to start making my own tee shirts so that I can use organic or recycled fabric. Above is a first attempt using old clothing. The pattern doesn't have a seam down the front which would look better. Anyway I am glad I made a trial version first and will probably make another one before I start on new fabric.
I learnt a few things, firstly stay stitching needs to be done using a larger stitch than you would normally for stay stitching, I stretched the neckline, you can see it still looks a little odd.
Secondly the neck binding needs to be stitched very carefully to get an even finish and thirdly the top stitching also needs to be done carefully. Fourthly American pattern sizing is very different from ours.
This isn't a proper mannequin so the shirt doesn't hang very well but this is an American size 6 (so flattering) which is equivalent to a UK size 10, it is supposed to be a loose fit but I normally make clothes in a UK size 12. The pattern was large round the neck I have taken about two inches from the neckline.
The basic pattern is very simple to put together, the finishing a little more complicated. I haven't bothered doing hems as its a trial one, though it will do fine for gardening.
The pattern is Fen by Fancy Tiger Designs which I bought online from The Village Haberdashery, its also available from Backstitch.

Eco printing/dyeing - some thoughts

Recently I have been slightly disappointed with the results of my eco printing especially compared to many of the results I have seen on fb and other blogs where the results are amazing with beautiful colours and prints. It seems many practitioners are now using iron blankets, iron water or ferrous sulphate. I am not criticising the use of these I am partial to using a little iron water now and again.  However I am not sure that I would want to use these in my practice when I am dyeing a wearable item, which is the direction I am moving towards. I wouldn't want to wear something against my skin that had been in contact with iron.
I guess I will to have keep to my subtle colours, which I do like, or move to Australia.
If there is anybody out there who achieves amazing prints and colours without using anything other than plant material I would love to know your secrets.

Open studio

 I have been dyeing scarves for my studio opening, woad and pomegranate.

Eco dyed clothes and cushions

 Some photos from the studio opening, last day tomorrow.

Liz Hewitt, eco dyed and indigo dyed scarves

And a small piece of weaving, working towards future exhibitions now.

Indigo

After my last experiments with indigo dyeing I wanted to try direct printing with the plant.  I am quite pleased with the results, but they are more faded than I would have liked so I need to work out how to get more intense colour. Its all experimental as I don't really know what I should be doing. If anybody out there is also trying this I would be interested in their methods. I bundled mine in the usual way and then put them in a pot with a fairly gentle heat for about two hours, it took a while before any colour came through. My friend Liz has also been dyeing with the plant so I am looking forward to seeing how she did.

Blouse dyed from previous indigo dyeing session
with leaf printing round hem

Hem

Plant dyed silk noil

Love the colours just need to be more intense

Boro exhibition, on raising humble to art.

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 Sorry about the colour reproduction my camera decided it didn't like blue.

If you live in the UK and you haven't seen this exhibition drop everything and go it is amazing. Its a study of unknowable family histories of grinding poverty and ingenuity. It asks more questions than it answers, you want to know about these peoples lives. Some of the pieces look as if the were cobbled together in spare moments but others appear to have had a lot of thought put into them and are beautifully stitched pieces.

It is unashamedly a selling exhibition, and doesn't pretend otherwise but by beautifully presenting these pieces as works of art it is raising the humble to new levels.
It seems a bit ridiculous to now produce my own new pieces, albeit made of old fabric, based on originals that were made out of rags to keep people warm but that is exactly what I intend to do and out of choice not necessity.

More dyeing efforts

cotton T shirt

dyed with eucalyptus

I am hoping to dye a small amount of recycled clothing to sell at my Christmas studio opening.

I am pleased with the yellow, leaves from the same tree have come out brown on the silk below.

This will be part of my walk in the woods piece.

Oak leaves on wool

Eucalyptus on silk noil

Maple leaves on silk noil

 These three images are the silk I have dyed to make a skirt, very subtle colours but that suits me as long as they don't fade when I wash the fabric.

Eucalyptus and maple

Not sure about this one

Day lilies on silk

Experiments with ice flowers