Scrunch Dyeing - finished project

I decided to use some of my fabric from my scrunch dyeing experiments in a free-form art quilt.  I combined some of the fabrics with some other hand dyed fabrics as well as commercial fabrics from my stash, and created some strip sets and blocks.  After auditioning several combinations on my design board, I settled on a grouping, stitched the top, then got inspired to try doing a little embroidery to embellish the middle.  I generally use lead pencil to sketch designs on my fabric, but thoughtlessly grabbed a graphite pencil and ended up with a smudged mess!  So I decided to complete the quilt, then launder it to remove the smudges, and I am so happy I decided to do that!  Ordinarily, I use fusbile interfacing to create my art and landscape quilts, but in this case, everything was done with stitching, so it was possible to launder the piece, creating some wonderful textures!  Afterward, I used a lead pencil to sketch a vine on the middle strip, and added some embroidery to the square on the right top quadrant, enhancing a design that came from dyeing the fabric with a portion wrapped around a button with a daisy design.  Okay, enough words!  Here is the project:

I used free-motion quilting on the border, the upper right square and the lower left square.  The rest was 'in the ditch' quilting.

Closeup of the flower - the design was very faint without the embroidery embellishment.

Closeup of the scrunched square with free-motion quilting.  I am calling this piece 'Tribute', in honor of my Mother, Step-Mother, Grandmothers and Great Grandma, all of whom were inspirational to me through their talents in various fiber arts.  I hope this will inspire you to not only try the dyeing techniques I demonstrated here, but also to use the fabrics you create.  One thing I have learned is that they look much better in projects than they do in my storage boxes! Thanks for reading and participating in the discussions here!

Another piece

I had some extra dye from yesterday’s experiment. So, I added a teaspoon of purple to it. I got out a nice silk scarf – so brave of me! And proceeded to tie “horns’ into it with thread. I expected a flower type look. YUP! That’s what I got a string of flowers

My shibori technique - an experimental sampler?

I did a bit of thinking and didn't really want to play with a pole today, so decided on doing a sampler of tying techniques. So, I did a little research and started right in!

This first photo is of the piece of hemp/silk fabric I chose as my experimental piece all tied up in different ways.

Then I mixed up three types of black dye, all from Dharma: #300 New Black, #39 Black and #44 Better Black. I used 1 teaspoon of each to one cup of warm water. Mixed the dickens out of it, then poured some in the bottom of my container, added the dry fabric and then more dye. Over all that I put as much soda/salt water over the whole thing to cover? it. (well as best as possible)
(All photos came out purple - go figure?)

I think the dry fabric just absorbed as much dye as possible, I should probably have soaked it first, but just couldn't wait!



So this picture is of the first section that had little twists in it, which I think is called Miura?














The second section was just pleated and then bound a couple of times.














And then there is the tied tightly round and round with a thread.

















And the last section is twisted tightly until it curls onto itself and held with a rubber band.

And the last photo is what the piece actually looks like.

Lots of stuff

I don't know if Judith wants me to post this here yet, so I put it on my blog. It is my fabric dyeing gradation experiment.

Judith....................The place looks fabulous! Great job, thank you :)