Practical Fabric Dyeing at the Lakeside Quilt Retreat

My 5 Wonderful Guests

A year or so ago, I had an idea to have a quilting retreat at our summer home in the Pocono Mountains.  This was after having many fun getaways with various groups of quilting friends.  My idea was to share  my quilting knowledge with others as well as provide them with a pampered and fun long weekend in a tranquil setting with wonderful food.

One of our delicious breakfasts, a yogurt buffet

Everyone made their own

My 5 guinea pigs, who I met at a guild in Maryland, arrived on Thursday night to spend 3 days with me, eating and dyeing – fabric dyeing that is.  They had chosen to spend the bulk of their time learning various ways to dye fabric. Over the years I have developed methods to do what I call practical dyeing.  These methods are not unique on their own, but they are my distillation of techniques that others have developed.  We did immersion, direct application, 2-color gradation and thread dyeing.  A lot to accomplish. 

Making up the dye stock - lakeside!

Fabric dyeing in baggies.

Batching overnight.

Out of the dryer after rinsing the next morning.

Frankie having the most fun ironing that she's ever had!

16 yds of immersion dyed fabric

Black and white fat quarters "before"

6 sets of 2 color gradated fabric, oriented vertically.

3 color direct application dyeing.

What a beautiful sight!

My methods for immersion and 2-color gradation dyeing can be found by clicking on the tab near the top of this page.  I also list a bunch of resources.

This entire retreat was a trial run.  First I wanted to see if guinea pigs, er I mean students, would enjoy spending time with me and learning what I had to share.  Second, I wanted to see if I enjoyed it.  The resounding results are Yes!!! And Yes!!!.  This experience exceeded the expectations of me and my guests.  Their joy in discovery, became my joy.

 We dyed over 30 yards of fabric in fat quarter increments.  Woo Hoo!



And a good time was had by all!!!!!

 

So I’m going to do it again. I’m thinking Fall 2012.  The colors here in the Fall are breathtaking.  If there is a group of 5 or 6 of you that would like to come as a group, let’s talk.  Shoot me an e-mail for more details.