Six swatches Straightly stitched

Here Nienke again, my turn to show my six swatches straightly stitched:

 Tightly knotted:

For 24 hours in a Procion MX solution with soda and salt included:

The big disclosure:

Final Results:

.

As you can clearly see, results are more interesting by using mixtures of dyes instead of a pure colour.

Straight Stitched Shibori with Colorhue Dyes

Hi. I am Marsha Leith and I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I have a blog on wordpress named Coolquilting where I post some quilting/textile stuff, some adventures with my dog and recently, a lot of photography. In my previous life(before retirement) I worked as a lab technician in assorted obstetrical/cancer research/avian flu research labs so playing around with pipettes, dyes and fiddling with procedures is right up my alley...

My first exposure to shibori was 3 years ago in an online class with Glennis Dolce(aka Shibori Girl). It was love at first attempt!!

Most of my experience with shibori has been with Colorhue Dyes on assorted silks(raw silk noil, habotai, organza and gauze). There is some controversy about these dyes, and in fact one website suggests they aren't really dyes, but are in fact fabric paints! However, they are easy to use and work very well for shibori. Most of my posts will use these dyes on silks as well as rayon/linen. I will also have a few examples with Procion MX dyes on cotton and indigo(from a pre-reduced indigo kit) on cotton in later posts. Note that the Colorhue Dyes instructions say that the dyes do NOT work with cotton.

This is my basic set-up for using these dyes:

Nothing very special: gloves, disposable plastic pipettes for adding drops of dye to water(I use 8 oz disposable plastic drink glasses), a "large" bucket for rinsing, fabric, thread(I use Coats Extra Strong Upholstery nylon thread), seam ripper and scissors. At the beginning I used air-erasable pens for marking but later I switched to Frixion pens. These Frixion pens are great for marking stitching lines, and are easily removed by ironing before the stitches are pulled up and tightened. I also have a metal hemostat to grip the fabric for dipping/swooshing into the dye(though metal is not recommended!)...plastic tweezers would work fine too. And paper towels for clean-up...

To use the dyes for small swatches of fabric(6 inches across), drops of dye are added, varying from a few drops into 4 oz of water, or up to 25% percent dye in water. With silk fabrics, the fabric only has to remain in the dye solution for a few minutes(other fabric types may require longer immersion times). A quick rinse in water is then done and stitches are carefully removed using a seam ripper.

My first piece for straight stitching was on silk habotai. This fabric is very thin and slippery and my first attempts were not that successful. I won't show my paper designs for these since they are pretty obvious!

Lines stitched with a simple running stitch. I use double thread since it makes it easy to tie off the ends tightly...notice the wonky stitching due to the slipperiness of the habotai fabric:

I pull up to tighten the threads but don't knot the ends yet:

I then completely wet the fabric in water, tighten the threads some more and then securely tie off the ends. This extra tightening step really helps form good resists:

A view of the "dye bath"( 15 drops dye to 4 oz water):

And after dyeing and removal of stitches:

Okay...but nothing exciting! The shibori resist is quite clear though.


My second piece, also on habotai, was with many straight lines(approx 3/8 inch apart), in an attempt to create the traditional Shibori pattern of "mokume" or wood grain.

Nice resist due to the stitches, but there is not enough resist between the rows...probably because the fabric is so thin. So I switched to raw silk(noil) which is much thicker. I also decided to make the rows slightly closer together(approx 1/4 inch).

In addition, with this third piece, I tried to get fancy, by using a circular design, but still just using rows of straight stitching for the shibori. Notice the nubby texture of the raw silk:

Ready for the dye bath after tightening:

Finished piece:

Much better "mokume" wood grain pattern- amazing that just a few rows of straight stitching can give such an intricate design. Note that the raw silk dyes a lot paler than does the habotai, and more unevenly(the "nubs" generally dye darker).

For my 4th piece, I was intrigued by one of the designs that Nienke uses(see Sunday's post tomorrow), and made a smaller version, using habotai. It is a grid with 3 vertical and 3 horizontal lines that intersect:

Stitches tightened, tied off and ready to go:

I wanted to see how intense the colour could get, so I greatly increased the ratio of dye to water for this sample(approximately 25% dye in 2 oz water). It almost glows it is so bright:

Interesting...extra resist was created in the center squares due to folding/scrunching of the fabric...I was not particular in how the fabric was arranged as I tightened the stitches...maybe if I had kept the fabric organized I could have minimized this..but I like the effect!

My last pieces(#5 and #6) were done with a rayon/linen blend and a very loose weave. I just got the fabric 3 days ago...so I haven't been able to "perfect" the dyeing, but this is what I have got so far.

First attempt(#5)...complete disaster. The weave is so loose that the knots got pulled into the fabric and the dye leaked in along the loosened stitching:

You can probably just see 3 groups of 3 straight lines...very weak!

For the final 6th piece I triple knotted all the threads at both ends so the thread would stay tightened. I designed a checkerboard-like grid and wanted to alternate horizontal and vertical lines. I carried the threads across the blank squares, mostly so I wouldn't have endless threads to knot off! This small technical decision can actually have a tremendous influence on the final result.

I didn't stitch the outside borders. After tightening and tying off the stitches the piece looked like this:

And after dyeing, using about 30 drops of dye in 3 oz water, for an extended length of time(about 1-2 hours but not optimized), the result was this:

Mini "mokume" in the squares as expected, but not quite as planned for the rest! Two extra squares in the middle were resisted...but not unexpectedly given how scrunched the fabric was. If I had not carried the threads over the blank squares, this effect might not have been so pronounced. Also interesting was that this piece had been dyed with blue and a touch of black...but came out purple!! And the black dye settled into the folds...

Also if you look closely at the piece, you can see that the giant knots also resisted and added small dots of white to the design.

So that is week 1 for me. Come back each day to check out everyone else's shibori posts...and see you again next Saturday! Thanks Nienke for letting me be part of Stitched Shibori month.

WEEK 1 results: Straight Line

WEEK 1 - Friday

Hello! I am Sheila Fowler and I live in Canada. My home is in Victoria, British Columbia. I have been dyeing since early in the 2000's. I also enjoy quilting, crafting when there is time and card making. All of these interests come together using what I create with dyes. My other passion is tap dancing that I do with a group of seniors. Quite a work out and mental challenge.

At present I am cruising to San Diego on a Holland America ship and presently am somewhere off California. It is an amazing experience, as is being able to post to the blog from the ship as I travel. My husband and I are enjoying "alone" time in a sea of people. No phone, no demands, no schedule - life is good!

I love preparing for expected results with MX dyes as well as the marvellous serendipity of random dyeing. I try to document what I have done to create the results I have obtained. I am not always successful as I tend to be impulsive. Under statement! Shibori has been a recent interest of mine and I was delighted to be challenged by Neinke to participate. I will be posting my warts and all. Not all of my results were good ones. I would like to think I have learned much from my less fortunate results.

SAMPLE 1

Sample 1 of straight lines was a maze that I created on pre-dyed fabric using my Janome Gem. Although I set the stitch as a large one, it was difficult to draw the whole maze up snugly. In the middle, I had to pull out the threads and pull from there as well.

SAMPLE 2

Sample 2 was prepared using a large (fat quarter) of cheap muslin. Because it was thin, it drew up well. I was too excited to stop and take a photo of the lines I created prior to drawing up the piece. The lines show up fairly well on the finished piece- including the one that was not pulled tight enough. The thin fabric did not work well in some of my experiments as the dye overwhelmed it. I used color hue dye to test the process. I did folded lines, whip stitch lines and parallel lines.

SAMPLE 3

Sample 3 - straight lines

This was another case of being is a hurry to draw up the work.

I used a pre-dyed piece of yellow cotton and MX dyes.

I stitched large stitches on my Janome Gem. My idea was to create stars on the background that would be dyed Blue. Two close lines would give more definition to the stars. Hand work would likely give more definition.

I feel this technique is definitely worth trying again with some modifications. Flowers also could be created this way. And crosses, and X's and random straight lines for a background.

SAMPLE 4

Sample 4 was a piece of rayon, folded in half, and then folded to the center and stitched with a zigzag on both sides of the fold. I used a piece of rayon .

Here is the rayon all drawn in and ready for the MX bath.

The result is quite nice from my perspective!

This opens the possibilities to using other kinds of folds and then doing the stitching on top of the folds...  or folding both sides into the middle twice rather than folding in half to begin. Different results are guaranteed.

SAMPLE 5

This sample was created on whisper thin linen. The first result was disappointing as it was difficult to pull the threads tight enough.

Take 2 was putting a piece of raw silk on top of the linen and drawing it up again using the folds from the lines from the first attempt. The lines would have been straighter and more accurate had I drawn them a second time!

Here is the double layers drawn up again and ready to be dyed. I used Jacquard Antique bronze. The silk greedily grabbed as much dye as it could and the thinner linen took up far less.

While the sample is still disappointing, it does show the possibility of using two pieces of different fabric in a single drawn sample. Now the question begging to be answered is whether the fabric would have taken up dye differently, had the silk been on the bottom and the linen layer on the top of the bundle. Another experiment to try!

SAMPLE 6 - China Silk

I cut a piece of silk about 8 inches by 40 inches. This was folded in a zigzag fashion five times. Again I moved too quickly into drawing up the sample before taking a photo.

I dyed the silk after soaking in vinegar, and used my dedicated microwave to help set the dye. The large square on point was stitched on the fold. The "X" through the block was a single line of stitching. The stitching went through all the layers of silk. I will now hem the scarf to have it ready for use.

And that is it for week one.

LEARNINGS:

ü  Thinner fabrics don't always work. Double or many layers worked better for me.

ü  Rayon and raw silk are greedy and dye darker.

ü  Machine stitching gives a less distinctive result.

ü  Using double lines, stitching on the fold and using a wrap stitch all product more distinct lines.
     Draw up shorter lines first - otherwise they disappear or become obscured under the longer pulled areas. 

Happy dyeing! And stitching your resists!

Sheila

Stitch resist shibori - the basics

For this month of experiments we will focus on cotton and silk to work with.
The fabric must be clean/PFD before you start your process.
The thread for binding has to be STRONG as it has to be tighten firmly. Nylon thread is too elastic, dental floss can really be difficult to get it tightly knotted. Cotton is a stable and strong thread and an added advantage is the shrinkage of cotton once in the water, causing the binding to fit even tighter.
Polyester is easier to remove because it takes no color. My tutor (a real shibori expert) Karla de Ketelaere recommended using Guterman Max Mara Polyester Thread, Detex 1000/3, 300 meters:

We will stick to regular stitches this month and see how many possibilities we will have with these!

The proces:

Tying:

1. Draw your design onto fabric in soft pencil. Thin material may be folded.
2. Systemise the pattern so that the thread can be tied together for contraction.
3. Stitch the pattern, if possible use double threads, which makes tightening and knotting much easier


4. Tie the loose ends together after you have sewn the whole pattern!

Dying:

When the material has been prepared, it is often an advantage to soak the material into water. Now that the water is in the fabric, the cotton of the binding will shrink and these two facts, will give the dye a hard time to get into the tied parts.

We will not explain the dye process as each of us has its own favourite dye/process.
But we have a few hints,

1. Use a narrow but high container, so the ratio water/dye solution will be strong enough. These 5 liter containers for water, soap or wine ;-) are great to work with when you remove the top.
2. Please use salt to make the dye move throught the water. 
3. And don't forget to add soda in the final stage if you use reactive dyes and cotton. 

PS. For those of you, who prefer a short procedure description, please check this one:

1. Pour the dye solution in the salt solution
2. Place material in this and dye for 30 minutes
3. Remove the material, add the soda solution and continue dyeing for another 60 minutes
The material must be moved about in the dyebath!
4. Rinse in luke warm water until the rinsing water is clear.
5. Remove the thread. It might be helpfull to let the bundles dry before doing so.
6. Decoct in a mild soap detergent

So now that we know the basics, let's start with the straight stitched pieces. Tomorrow Sheila Fowler, one of our teammates this month will share her experiments!

October with Nienke Smit & CO - Stitch resist shibori

Welcome in October, a new month, a new technique. That's the concept of this blog! Thank you Mags Ramsay for a great series of working with acrylic paints. It has been very inspiring!

Last year, I spend a whole month on '30 ways to fold your fabric' before dying. This month we (as I have a team of contributors with me!) will share our experiments of many ways to stitch your fabric before dyeing!

A great resource on theory is this website:
http://shibori.org/traditions/techniques/

(And by the way, the book they recommend is the best you can get on Shibori dying to my opinion. And lucky us, there was a reprint in 2012.)

Now for some theory,  (source: Shibori resist dyeing techniques from Grethe Wellejus, out of print) the word Shibori is Japanese and means twist, turn, press, which are the basic principles in the ways in which these methods may be used to decorate a piece of material.
Having placed a piece of material in a folded or sewn pattern, it is pressed firmly togehter and dyed int he chosen dye and thus will receive most colour on the surface area.
The dye will penetrate in proportion to the type of dye, length of time, type of material and the pressure applied. Thus you obtain a variation in the shade. At the bottom of the folds, the pattern will stay undyed.

In this way parts of the materials have resisted the dye, - hence the name resist techniques. The various shades and the three-dimensional effect are the characteristics of these techniques.

And from another source Shibori.orghttp://shibori.org/traditions/techniques/:

The unique effects possible with nui shibori (stitch resist) are determined by the type of stitch, whether or not the cloth is folded, and the arrangement of the stitches: straight, curved, parallel, or area enclosing. After the stitching of a piece is completed, the cloth is drawn into tight gathers, along the stitched thread(s), and secured by knotting. It is then dyed. The cloth within the gathers is largely protected from the dye.

The simple running stitch is commonly used and sewn evenly in a constant forward movement. The only other type of stitch used in Japanese shiboriis an overcast stitch called makinui. This stitch is made over the edge of a fold of cloth, and stitching proceeds from right to left with a circular motion of the needle. The thread is not drawn up with each stitch, but the cloth is gathered on the needle. As the stitching continues, the gathered cloth is pushed back over the eye of the needle onto the thread.

This month, in four weeks, we will concentrate on the mentioned arrangement of stitches:

• straight
• curved
• parallel
• area enclosing

We made samples just to see the effect and hope you will find inspiration in these to try yourself! 
Tomorrow some basic information!