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Whew, wanted to try again a color combination I have tried in the past but not as successfully as I would have liked! I finally think I got it in a couple of the pieces I did yesterday. I should add that all the fabrics that I have been using were fabrics that were just laying about, obviously cut up for some reason but repurposed to do these mandalas. I wasn't even sure if they were pfd or not! The color palette that I have been trying to get in the mandalas is the orange/green/purple trio that I am most fond of and thought would lend itself well to mandalas. I tried something a little different this time -- I sprinkled on the strong orange but sprinkled a lot of sun yellow on top of it. I am super pleased with how this turned out and may try some other variations. I just ordered 12 plastic shakers from Amazon as I like using these to sprinkle the dye -- seems to be more efficient and I don't use quite as much dye.
I am still stacking them two deep and have been smushing them bit now as well. I also have been putting a large piece of smushed fabric underneath to catch even more dye. the last couple of days I have been using some 60 in wide cotton single knit I got from Dharma years ago.
This is a piece of the knit which was underneath one of the sets of pieces. the color is really bright and amazingly, the dye has already passed through 8 layers of Kona cotton which is a pretty heavy weight cotton! I originally started dyeing these one yard lengths to make some nightgowns but am thinking I might do t-shirts instead or some other type of top to be determined.
This is probably my favorite for the day. It really looks like it was planned! This was the underneath piece and the one below was the one on top. I am beginning to think I should put a smushed fabric on top and see what happens.
These following pieces were mostly blue and purple but instead of putting them one on top of another with the center facing in the same direction, I decided to reverse one of the pieces and of course you get two pieces that only share the color palette but not the pattern even though one is on top of the other!
I know this one was on top by the patterning.
This was another one on top.
I think this drop cloth was under the first two fabrics and the one above was under the blue purple ones.
I did one of the larger t-shirts using the alternate patterning (and am wearing it right now!). I kind of like the symmetrical patterning on one side (including the sleeve) and the random coloring on the other shoulder -- almost like two different fabrics. I also did another t-shirt and a tank top for my younger daughter in this batch.
The above are collages showing the differences between on top and on bottom fabrics.
I also finished two more purses. Because the faux suede is shiny, it doesn't photograph true to color. It is a lot more subtle in person as there is quite a bit of taupe in the batik. I have finished quite an assortment of bags and am working on the last of the bunch right now. Haven't found any great short cuts though!
Still staying with the palette I have been playing with this summer -- Intense Blue, Grass and Leaf Green and Sun Yellow with a little Basic Blue. I have continued the stacking of two mandalas and with this batch, I smushed them a bit as well (not laying them perfectly flat as before). This one was a nice Kona cotton and the one below was an old piece of muslin which I used as my top piece. These were pretty close in color but you can see the effect of the ice more on the top piece.
You can actually see a couple of spots on this one where the soda ash didn't take for some reason even though soaked for a day!
These next two were a pair also, muslin on the bottom..
You can see those little spots here as well.
Again another pair but I like both of these a lot!
This is one of the top ones that I thought was really effective!
The next two were not a pair but the better of the two pieces in the pair (although they were all pretty good in my estimation).
This is one of the muslin pieces. Definitely like the Kona cotton better. It was heavier than I usually use and it seemed to take up the dye very well through all these layers (16 + the drop cloth which is smushed up).
This is the array of all plus one (couldn't find a format for the collage that allowed all the pairs to be shown to their best advantage). You should be ale to pick out all the pairs here!
This was one of the mandalas from the other day that was really not symmetrical so I cut it into fours squares and will insert the green and blue pieces and then hopefully will square with something to be determined. It certainly improves the piece IMHO. I also switched the pieces from their original configuration and cut off edges (it was one of those not carefully cut pieces that was much longer than wide).
In the afternoons waiting for the mandalas and t-shirts to "age", I am continuing to work on purses with a fall theme. These are the latest two. I had the camera settings a bit off so the color is a little off on these. I am working my way through Inspector Lewis while I am doing this. I have recently gotten a hearing aid, so am actually falling the plots a lot better than before even though the sewing machine sounds a lot louder!!
I have made two of each of these purses (although their are differences in the linings most of the time). I have four more to go before I have to buy some more fusible fleece and decide what fabrics to use. I have quite a stash of upholstery faux suede at this point and noticed the latest Joanns ad said that all drapery fabric was on sale EXCEPT the faux suede! Hope that isn't because of all I have bought lately and it is not a new trend! When on sale with another 20% off the total order, it is very reasonably priced -- I even ordered some online of the more popular colors.
Being very lazy with some random scraps, I didn't bother ironing the fabrics and obviously wasn't very careful when folding. I had two pieces like this one! The mistake was after I folded them in half, I didn't fold them in half again and again on the folded side but on the raw edge. So I will cut in half and resew!
You can see it looks normal here!! I didn't cut yet but used software to put them together!
This one and the next one were stacked with this one on the bottom.
This one was on top and shows the effect of the ice melting more. I may start using a drop cloth on top as the bottom ones suffer less from the ice melting. This is true of the t-shirts and the drop cloths underneath them which are absolutely saturated with color.
This one and the next one were my favorites. I used a lot less color overall on these bunches including the tshirts (I don't have pictures of the tshirts but they were much lighter and had a lot of yellow in them). I used Basic Blue in these which doesn't give you as much color as the Intense Blue but it is a nice blue tending to red (the only pure blue that does).
I did several t-shirts yesterday using the blue/green/yellow/purple palette. These are all mediums which were certainly easier to manipulate than the plus sized t-shirts.
I folded this tshirt slightly differently kind of spiraling it on one side. I kind of like the effectg and it is different.
This one was done with vertical stripes and I do like it for variety. I am going to do this with fabric one of these days. Hauling those bags of ice is back-breaking though!!
I thought I would try a different style which I will send to my west coast daughter for those warmer days.
I am back making purses which will I will consign with SEW Artistic here in Rochester. Like the others I have made, they have upholstery grade phony suede for the straps, side and bottom and trim and feature either commercial or my hand dyed or marbled fabric. They have two zippered pockets inside as well as deep pockets on either side on the outside and a zipper enclosing the top.
This is a quilt by Alice Genereux and was my very favorite quilt in the show! I didn't realize until I looked at the label that the houses were all made from thrift store neckties, of which I have hundreds if not thousands. Of course, when I bought them, the most I ever paid was $1 and it had to be an exceptional silk tie to pay that. Now I rarely see them for less that $3 or $4 each. The quilt certainly gives me ideas of how to showcase my "collection". I have made a couple of quilts with them but used the ties exclusively.
This is a closeup so you can seer the ties -- I am pretty sure I have one just like that one!
Of course, two of the stars of the show were these two small silk appliqued quilts by our own Chris Wickert. She consistently wins at national quilt shows with her stunning quilts.
The hand work in the small quilt is beyond belief!! And it is all in silk as well! No one even comes close to her workmanship.
This seasonal quilt was by Cynthia Fleming. I think I liked the small quilts almost the best this time!!
The next two quits were done by Diana Adams and were beautifully done!
Fellow RAFA member Liz Scott would love this one!!
These next five were all large and unfortunately I didn't get the names of the quilters!
I am going to add this one to my Pinterest page of scrap quilts that I might do some day -- also the next one will go there too!
These quilts are all by quilter and teacher Tina Somerset who is hosting a Design Club at Patricia's on Saturdays starting this fall. I would sign up if I was in town. Her quilts are gorgeous and it would be a wonderful refresher of several techniques!
This is the booth of my friend Julia Deal who runs SEW Artistic. I have been consigning some of my handbags, pouches, mandalas and t-shirts to her. She is has been teaching serger classes and is a master at creating designs and using those machine embroidery machines. She sells on First Fridays and Second Saturdays at the Hungerford Building in downtown Rochester. She also sells her designs on Etsy.
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