I'm Dyeing!

I made my first attempt at dyeing wool tonight. I really think I've found a new addiction. Its so much fun to know I can have whatever colors I might like... and sewing wool is so much easier than sewing the pockets I've been doing up until now.

Anyway, here are some pics of the dyeing process:



Before dyeing & after (the brighter ones in there are swatches of my bamboo velour)

All my pieces, now drying & waiting to be sewn tomorrow during naptime!


My next adventure is going to be using the bamboo/cotton velour & making myself a couple fitteds to go under my wool! :)

Wool adventures...

I had my first go with wool last night... I made myself a pattern and kind of went from there, tweaking as I went. The orange was my first try... in just cheap cotton jersey I'd gotten at Walmart. But it was so stretchy and I didn't think it would sew up like the real thing, so I sized down a bit (because that thing was huge) and dove right into my wool. The middle one is my second attempt... its wool crepe which has been felted. It looks like it would fit well, but not be as nice & trim as I wanted it to be, so I re-drew, re-cut and tried again with my wool interlock. After sewing with both I can say that I much prefer the interlock. The crepe rolls at the edges and isn't quite as stretchy, although it is nice & soft once its felted up. I have another yard of interlock on order, and am getting in on a co-op for a few more yards.



Here's a pic of Mer in the interlock this morning over her Luxe fitted. It fits well, although could use a little more room in the rise, and be a little tighter around the waist and legs.



Now that I have a general idea of pattern its on to dyeing, which was tonight's adventure, but needs another whole post of its own! :)

A not so new adventure...

Well I'm officially an addict now. I've moved from buying to making onto new fabrics & hand dyeing. I thought since I'm going to be trying so many new things here soon it'd be fun to track what new things I'm doing as well as make sure I write things down so I remember... like times and temperatures for dying fabrics.

So just to catch you all up to speed... here are some pictures of my current CD stash as well as some of the fabrics I have waiting to be sewn:




I've been considering opening up my own shop on HC, but thought if I were going to do something like that I'd need to be a bit more creative than just a copied pocket dipe (mine are all styled after the BG 2.o o/s dipe). Since I've been so interested in natural and organic stuff for my home I thought I'd start looking at natural and organic fabrics. Plus, since Meredith is suffering from an awful yeast rash right now I want to move her into more breathable fabrics once we get the rash healed. Tonight I ordered some 100% Merino wool interlock, 100% Merino wool crepe, and a 70/30 bamboo/cotton. I am going to try my hand at hand dyeing and have been looking at Earthues natural dyes. I think it'd be so neat to work with dyes that have been used for centuries. I thought it'd be fun to make some matching sets. I'm thinking about stenciling or stamping them also (like the Luxe diapers are) and making matching Ts.

So that's my newest obsession... its gone from an innocent interest in being economical and a little more ecologically friendly, to a full on insane obsession with fabrics and dyes and fun new things. I'm scared of what this can of worms is that I just opened, but I can't WAIT to get my fabrics in the mail. And of course I will be sure to update when things come in & hopefully I'll get photos of the dyeing process as well!