Yes, it's 2/6/26

 I haven't been doing the dates all that well but today is an exception.

So ... I decided to use a couple of the pieces I have mordanted (that is so hard to say!) and I have put the hollyhock sludge on top of a piece of silk. I am expecting that the dyeing will not be even - which doesn't bother me at all. 

And ... I used some tea that I decided to save, weeks ago, with another piece. I have no idea why I decided to keep the leftover tea but I did - perhaps I had an inkling of my resurgent interest in dyeing - which is still not that resurgent.  Luckily, we drink a fair bit of tea here and there was plenty of liquid, relatively speaking - I only used one old chemise. 

I have used a brownish piece of silk, so it might not make that much difference. 

I have not really done any research to see if it will be good - I just like to play. 

So, in a couple of days, I'll have a look to see what is happening. I am not putting them near heat, etc. It is early winter here, the weather has just cooled down remarkably and I can't be bothered worrying about warm and cool spots.

Sewing off the edge

 This is our current challenge for our monthly meeting at the EGV. I'm not sure what it means, exactly- but if I have interpreted it correctly, I'm not sure why anyone would bother!

I found an old piece of experimentation that I had done in the past - it was a circle full of fairly heavy free motion sewing. I decided to try that again. 

Unfortunately, two of the pieces I did had fabric tucked under the hoop and I sewed it without noticing! But two others were done more correctly. 

I drew a circle on some cotton - then decided that I could just sew the shape, it doesn't matter if it is not an exact circle.

After I cut them off the fabric I then tried sewing off the edge - the only thing that seemed to happen was that the white fabric at the edge got covered - not a bad outcome but I'm nor sure if that was the aim. 

One other thing was that I used the automatic speed and sewing, no use of the foot pedal. When I tried doing it without the automatic aspect the thread kept breaking on the top. 

I left a little bit where I didn't sew over the edge and you can see the white fabric edge. That one didn't have the mistake of folded over fabric on the back! 

What I did notice is that the heavier sewing made the 'flower' more 3D.

I'll know more when I go to our group meeting next Sunday.  

Still experimenting

I had quite a few old chemises that are made of silk so I decided to actually use them! I have kept them because the silk is lovely. 

I also still have some of the hollyhock dye bath left. 

So today I looked up yet another site on how to naturally dye silk and have just done more mordanting of the fabric. I have done it slightly differently because I went to a different site - so many sites with good advice!  Because the chemises had colour I am not sure how things will turn out - but I really don't care!

I'm hoping to collect some more fabrics, not necessarily silk, and dye them and see if they 'speak to me' about how to use them. 

If not, I'll have yet more pieces of dyed silk and other fabrics.

 The leftover flowers that I used have turned into some sort of sludge but I am willing to try one or two pieces of silk to see what happens. I'll try to be more creative with the rest, see if I can make different colours. I still have a LOT of dried and frozen hollyhocks to I am anticipating lots of purples and, possibly, pinks. 

If I do use the sludge, I don't think the dye will be even but that doesn't bother me either. I am just aiming to have fun. 

As I have only prepared silk, I think that I won't get the greens and browns I got with the wool. - they were also old chemises. 

Our garden is being overtaken by oxalis - not a good thing. But I am hoping some may survive (if we don't work our how to actually get rid or it) and I will cut the yellow flowers and try them. I have a faint recollection of using the leaves too but they will only give green, easily obtained from other sources. It would actually be good to get rid of the oxalis, so I may not get to see the beautiful flowers.