Dyeing and Curtains

One thing I have wanted to do since sewing those master bathroom curtains is to sew curtains for the small bath and my studio. I also wanted to dye a piece of white fabric that was given to me. It has a pattern and I was hoping the dye would bring out the design. The fabric for both the curtains and the dyeing came from a friend who gave me a bag full of white fabric several years ago.

So here is the curtain for the small bathroom.

I wanted something simple. This is my all-time favorite stencil I’ve had for years, and the Marabu Fashion Spray I like to use with stencils. I used three different colors for this curtain. I have several posts where I’ve used this spray including this one.

And here is a close up of the bottom of the curtain.

For the other curtain I’ve just sewed and hung it. I’m waiting for inspiration before I proceed. I hate to admit it but I really like it just plain white. I don’t want anything too dark and in the summer I’ll either take it down or open it all the way.

Then that other piece of fabric. It definitely has some kind of design. I was hoping it might have a bit of polyester in it. If that were the case, the fiber reactive dyes would not dye it and I’d be able to see the design. The only way to know is to just do it! Here is the fabric. As  you can see it has some type of design.

Now to dye.

I pulled it out of the dye to see if I could see a design. Yep, I see one. Looks like it might be daisies.

However, as you can see, when washed and dried, the pieces came out much lighter.

Although you can see the pattern in the others it seemed clearer on the green. I also had a hard time deciding which side was the right side.

So it was back to the dye pot and here are the second set of samples. The darker colors show the pattern much better.

And now the dark blue one really shows the pattern.

I wanted to dye small pieces to decide which color or colors would bring out the background. The green and blue seem to do much better, although the red is okay. The yellow just doesn’t do much. It’s a beautiful piece. I’m not sure what I will do with it once it’s dyed.

Meanwhile, I baked biscotti for a special occasion. I usually only make it for Christmas, but I wanted to celebrate with this treat.The three different batches only took 2.5 hours. Here is the link to the basic recipe. However, I’ve made a few changes since then, but that one does work.

The weather has turned cool. It’s time to get out the jeans and sweaters! Have a great week.