Craftsy Class Review: The Art of Cloth Dyeing

I’ve been dyeing fabric now for almost two years. Just before that time I received Jane Dunnewold’s Art Cloth to review. With review books I can choose to give them away or keep them. I gave Art Cloth away on this blog because I thought I’d never really get into dyeing. I was wrong! So when I saw that Craftsy had listed “The Art of Cloth Dyeing” with Jane, I just had to check it out.

Since I’ve been dyeing and own many fabric dyeing books I wasn’t sure I really needed this class but I was so wrong!

First of all, Jane is a hoot! I love her sense of humor. And not only is she an artist, she is a teacher. She even uses a blackboard! She really explains the dyeing process and takes students step-by-step through the process. She recommends specific colors to play with and even gives several recipes for some beautiful colors.

The video lessons include the following:

• Introduction
• All about fabric
• Supplies
• Basic fabric manipulation
• Mixing dyes
• Color contact
• The wash out
• Advanced fabric manipulation
• Themes and variations
• Overdyeing
• Using your dyeing skills

Not only does she take you through the dyeing, she shows you the end results. For instance, she folds the fabric a certain way and then shows the results of that actual piece. But she also shows some “mistakes.” Even this master of fabric dyeing doesn’t always get “perfect” results. But no worries, these pieces can always be overdyed.

So here is what I did. First I wanted to try overdyeing.

I really never liked this piece that I dyed with the oatmeal resist. Here is the original piece and after overdyeing. To overdye this piece I fan folded it and dyed it with Dharma Orange Marmalade. I really like this piece now!

On this next piece, the original ice dyed with the Tulip dyes is no longer visible which was fine with me!

This fabric was folded in half and then half again until it was all folded up, and then secured with a rubber band. I used Dharma Orchard dye. Here is a closeup.

The last overdyeing was the sun printed fabric with Dye-na-Flow from this post. I used Dharma Goldfinch dye.

Not sure I like that fabric, but was interesting to see how it would turn out. This was flag folded to get that design.

The last two pieces were white muslin. This first one I rolled bubble wrap in with the fabric and secured the bundle with rubber bands. It is dyed with Dharma Dragon Fruit.

The last technique I tried was Shibori where you wrap the fabric around a PVC pipe and secure with rubber bands or string. I dyed this with Dharma Parakeet.

I was happy with most of these, especially the first two pieces and the Shibori. But I need to experiment more. I’m also not real happy with these colors, especially the Parakeet. It’s more green than blue. I’ll be mixing my own dyes next time.

If you have been afraid to attempt dyeing fabric with fiber reactive dyes, you need to take this class. Once you sign up, you have the class for as long as Craftsy is around. While the lesson is playing you can stop and make notes. If you want to go back and watch a specific area you have noted,  you can go right back to that part on the video. When I was dyeing Saturday, I went back to several of my notes to refresh my memory.

Another great thing about the Craftsy classes is that you can ask questions of the teachers. I asked Jane several questions which she replied to within 24 hours. It is like she’s there just for me! I’m in her class and I can pull her aside and say, “Hey Jane, what do you think about this?” Pretty neat!

You also can see what the other students are asking and can comment. She encourages students to upload pieces. Again, it’s like being in class but I can sit here and watch her in my pjs whenever I can fit it in my schedule.

This is my third Craftsy class. They all have been excellent. Check out my reviews on Stitch and Slash and Stupendous Stitching. Craftsy has a variety of other classes. If dyeing, sewing or quilting are not your thing, they have jewelry, bread making, knitting and more. They also have FREE mini courses.

I’m not finished with my fabric dyeing. In fact, after taking Jane’s class, I feel like I’ve just begun!

Disclaimer: I received this class from the publisher for review purposes. The opinions expressed here are 100% my own. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review and received no monetary compensation.