Dyeing Silk Fabrics

Posted on by
I’ll Fly Away #4 (detail) by Laura Wasilowski

Lately, I’ve been dyeing silk fabrics for my bird series, I’ll Fly Away. The designs are made with free-cut shapes that are fused into place using Misty Fuse and then ironed to wool batting. I love the ease of stitching through silk and the fact that it is tightly woven so the edges don’t fray. But mostly I love the glow of silk fabric. It has a special warmth.

Silk yardage is hard to come so I search out silk scarves and skirts and dresses at resale shops. My favorite finds are large skirt fabrics with few seams and some patterning. Overdyeing the fabrics in a variety of colors gives me more colors from which to choose. These fabrics are my latest find. And I can’t wait to start another I’ll Fly Away quilt with them.

Dyeing for Color

Posted on by

Here is what I do to make my art. I dye. I iron. I cut. I sew. We are now at the dyeing stage of my artwork. For the next few weeks, I’m dyeing thread for the Artfabrik shop and myself.

My list consists of 31 Artfabrik colorways to dye. The process begins with taking an inventory of the size 8 and 12 pearl cotton threads needed to restock the Artfabrik shelves. Then I begin the process of mixing Procion MX dye powders with water to make the dye stock. (Remember to put the lid on the blender!)

Next is painting the white pearl cotton threads. Each colorway has its own color sequence. (This one is called October Fest.) Sometimes I mix the basic dye stock colors together to get a secondary color. At other times I dilute the dye stock with water to achieve a lighter value of the color. It’s a lot of measuring and whining when I get it wrong.

Then there is the whining about washing them out by hand. It’s a bad idea to throw thread into the washing machine to rid it of excess dye. I know, because I’ve tried it.

So the thread is washed by hand. I collect buckets of water from the washer as I wash clothes or fabric using that water for the initial rinse of the threads. After 5-15 buckets of water or so, I can use clean water to rinse it out. This is usually my morning work out.

The thread bundles must air dry before I begin to twist and label each skein. So you see, dyeing can take weeks. But the colors are worth it!

A Tasty Quilt to Share

Posted on by

Produce Department #3 by Laura Wasilowski

Let the apple-picking begin! Autumn is near and a favorite time of year to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Or in my case, to go to a produce stand and buy fruits of labor grown by someone else. I love a fresh picked-apple, although I’ve never had success in growing an apple tree.

My Dad’s apple orchard contained several apple varieties, including the famous Prairie Spy version. In the fall, I would walk through the orchard on the way home from school and grab a sweet apple to eat. So good!

The only success I’ve had with growing apples is quilts about apples like Produce Department #3. The apple is created with a collage of fused fabric scraps surrounded by fresh colors to whet your appetite. If you’d like to add this fancy apple to your collection, here is more information.