Fabric to Dye For - Chapter One

This month is the anniversary of my book Fabric to Dye For.  All month long I am going to highlight the contents of my book.

Every Wednesday this month I will have a drawing to give away a stack of color gradations made from the directions in my book. Then on Thursday some lucky winner will be mailed their four fat quarters of hand dyed fabric. Send me an email with your name and address, and I will add you to the hat for a chance to win. At the end of the month, I will pull one lucky winner from among all the names that I have collected in the hat who will receive a free copy of my book. Be sure and let all your friends know so that they can enter too!  

Color is one of the main reasons I love quilting. Because I want to create an abundance and variety of rich, jewel-like colors, I dye my own fabrics.

What are Procion MX dyes?
The most dependable colorfast and wash-fast dyes available are Procion MX Fiber Reactive Dyes, which are the one used in the instructions and projects in my book. They come in powder form and are mixed with water.
I get my dyes from Dharma and Pro-Chemical & Dye Company.

These are the seven basic colors that I work with in the book.
Each company has different names for the basic colors and you can order a starter kit from each of the companies.

In my book Fabric to Dye For one of the first thing that I talk about is preparing a work space for dyeing fabric. I show you my set up at my house and discuss the things that I thing are helpful for you to get started dyeing your own fabrics.

I cover the area that I work on to prepare my dyes with an old blanket or towel. I spritz the material with water so that when I am handling the dyes any stray dye will land on the wet fabric and stay there.

I use a blender to mix my dyes with hot water. This helps the dye dissolve well. I mix my dyes right on top of my washing machine because that is a good working height.

I use a bucket to pre soak my fabric in before I start to dye. I mix sodium carbonate (ph plus from the pool supply companies) in hot water and let the fabric soak at least 15 minutes before I apply the dye.

This week’s highlighted fabric is Frieda Greens  This is made using two different color yellows and adding black to them. I think of this color as a neutral and use it that way in my designing.

When I made “Autumn Mums” I used it to add variety to the stripey units and to add accent for the veins, stems and leaves.