Indigo Fabric Dyeing @Whitney Lake

I dabble in dyeing, fabric dyeing that is.  It's in my DNA.  My college degree is in Chemistry, so it's rewarding to combine my academic knowledge with my love of fabric.

I just returned from a 3 day getaway with some of my quilting buddies at our lake house.  It's the perfect place to dye fabric outside because there's not a whole lot of grass.  The weather was perfect.  I was not sad that Autumn was not in the air.  It was really a summer extension.

Other than quilting and eating, indigo dyeing was on the agenda.  It has to be the easiest type of dyeing that I have ever done and it seems to be a non-discriminatory type of dye.  Every type of fiber we tried, turned blue! And indigo is such a rich, beautiful shade of blue.  Blue is my favorite color and it's making a comeback in Home Dec and fashion.  I've seen it in a bunch of magazines and in the stores.

Indigo is a plant based dye and the fabric comes out of the dye bath green.

 and as it is exposed to the oxygen in the air, it turns blue!

I made the dye bath up the day before.  We twisted and clipped, tied and stitched the fabric and then dampened it before placing it in the dye bath.  5-10 minutes was all that was needed.  Then the fabric was rinsed, untied and placed on the clothes line to dry.  Easy - peasy.

Everything we tried took the dye.

Denise even took the shirt off her back and dyed it! (It was a white t-shirt.)

Helen brought some very cool fabrics including some doggie bandanas for Bailey

and this sheer curtain type fabric came out beautifully.  I think I'm going to make mine into a scarf.

I bought my dye from Pro Chem as a kit.  It came with very clear instructions.

Make sure you wear gloves or your hands will be blue for days.  Click on THIS LINK, if you want to buy the kit and give it a try.

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