Sewing with Nancy

Yesterday Laura and I filmed two new episodes of "Sewing with Nancy"

Vicki the magnificent make up artist is making us look "good". Laura is getting the royal treatment. Vicki recently worked on the film "Public Enemy" with Johnny Depp. We are in good company.

The taping process is always fun with Nancy. She IS the nicest person in the quilting, sewing industry. We also love her crew, Donna, Laurie and Deanna, who had to stay home and mind the office.

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it.

Winter in the woods

George and I go out almost every day that I am home. But the temperatures these days is bitter, below zero.

BUT the woods still hold lots of interesting smells and thinks to explore.

Lovely design and color combination.

Dyeing fabric flat

I also like to dye my fabrics flat on a surface. The way that I do that is to use a large platter. I use plexi glass platters since I dye a little everyday. That’s right folks I dye a little every day just for you :)

But a cheaper and easier way to make a platter is to use styro foam platters. You can buy styro foam insulation at any large building home supply store like Menards or Home Depot. They come in 4’ x 8’ sheets and cost under $10. I have the store cut them into three pieces for me. I have them cut it in half and then one of the halves cut in half.

I wrap them in heavy plastic and tape them with a water proof tape. This way I can reuse them and rinse them off very easily.

I usually do this kind of dyeing outside and in the summer time.

 

I have raised up my table with pvc pipe so that I am not bending over all the time. I have mixed my dyes and put them into smaller squirt bottles. Then after I have soaked the fabric I can lay it out on my platter and apply the dye free form. This is a great way to work. You can stack up multiple layers of fabric and get many yards this way. I also will put up to four yards of fabric on these platters and pleat them and then apply the dye from the squirt bottles.

The yellow background fabric in my pattern purple coneflowers has been dyed this way. I used three different colors of yellow and a little lime green to get this background.

Dyeing outside in the summer time is one of George’s favorite activities.

And the winner is -

This weeks winner is Sylvia Schaefer from Athens GA
I am in Madison WI filming two new episodes for Sewing with Nancy with Nancy Zieman and my friend Laura Wasilowski.
Nancy was gracious enough to pull the name out of the hat.

I forgot to take a picture of Nancy pulling the name so I had to substitute this picture I took a couple of years ago at the Sewing with Nancy Quilt show.
Sylvia will receive four fat quarters of a turquoise step down gradation. Congratulations!!
I hope you have fun with these.

Dying from one color to another another color

When I am dying fabrics for myself my favorite way to dye is from one color to another. This means picking two colors that I love and grading from one to the next by stepping down from the full color in one cup to the full color in the last cup. For instance;

This is a gradation from orange (1/2red 1/2yellow) to blue. Starting with a full cup of orange I dye the first gradation. The next gradation is 1 cup of orange with a Tablespoon of blue. The third gradation is 3/4 cup of orange with a 1/4 cup of blue and so on until I reach a full cup of blue.

What happens with these kinds of gradations is you get some fabulous in between colors. My favorite brown is 4/5 orange to 3/5 blue. This makes a rich chocolaty brown color.

When I start to experiment with different color combinations it is very important to keep a notebook. You think you will remember what you have done, but you won’t! My notebook is all stained from writing in it with my wet hands, but it is well worth it.

Limey Avocado is a gradation in greens.

These fabrics grade from purple to green and from yellow to blue.

This is the quilt that I made with these gradations.

Winter Forest

The trees are also a gradation I have sliced apart Rainbow strip gradation to achieve the changes in color for the limbs on the trees.

1/11/11

Simple interesting Fact

To:

This year we will experience 4 unusual dates.... 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11, 11/11/11 .... NOW go figure this out.... take the last 2 digits of the year you were born plus the age you will be this year and it WILL EQUAL TO 111.

Gradations from light to dark

I think we all love to see fabrics that gradate from light to dark in one color.
Some of the first hand dyed fabrics that I was attracted to and ultimately bought where the ones that gradated in one color from dark to light.

Cerulean Blue, Blackened Yellow (yellow with black added to it), Fuchsia
Here are three such gradations.
Once you mix up your color you can do an easy step down in color gradation. Starting with one cup of pure color. Next pour 3/4 cup of pure color and 1/4 cup of water.
Continue to step down the amount of dye with water added to your 1 cup measure to achieve as subtle of a gradation as you like. The ones you see here are a 7 step gradation.
Baby quilt
I used three different graded colors to make this baby quilt. A gradation in green, turquoise and yellow.

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.  And if you look on my website this month all orders over $30 will receive a free 48-5” packet of precut hand dyed fabric squares. What at deal.