Bundle of doilies at the flea market: $1
Others acquired at more junk piles later in the day: total $5
One hour of dipping and rinsing, Maytag at work, some drying on the rack, then this: Priceless!
Someone, or several someones, had a bunch of doilies and such that they didn’t want. They might have a tiny hole or a stain or two, but in the donation pile they went. I brought them home, dumped them on the table, and photographed them. The first ugly photo above is the $1 pile.
Another couple of pieces came from another store, the hankie with the hideous yellow lace was $1, a tea towel was $1. You see those in the second ugly shot.
I had a fresh vat of indigo dye that I had mixed for friends earlier in the week, so I wet the fabrics and began dipping.
The dye appears green and when the fabric is first removed from the vat, it is green. But, exposed to air, the chemistry magic takes place. The oxidation process makes the color change to blue right before your eyes.
This photo shows the first few pieces as they oxidize. The one on the bottom right is freshest from the dye vat, the others have been out in the air from 1 to 5 minutes longer.
One of the beauties of overdying old linens is the reveal on embroidered pieces. White-on-white embroidery is beautiful in its own way, but, the dye takes it to another level. This huck cloth pillow sham (an earlier find) is a great example of that.
Damask tablecloths and napkins are amazing, too. The subtle color changes from the differing directions of thread in the weave is not subtle after dyeing. This tablecloth (a piece from an earlier dyeing session) also has variations because I left some areas bundled up so less dye reached the fibers and/or less oxidation took place.
And, I thought the two yellowed tea towels I dipped yesterday were plain. But, no. Once I hung them up, I saw patterns woven in the fabric. Amazing!
It’s addictive; this blue magic. Every stage is exciting. Seeing the color change. Seeing what’s left after rinsing (the pale blue trim was dipped three times, but because it’s not a natural fiber – has a lot of polyester in it, I think – it never becomes the deep blue like the others). Playing with it after it’s dried. Then planning how to incorporate it into a piece of fiber art. All stages are fun.
And, that, for certain, is priceless.
The same mass of textiles, now blue. Variations in color come from different fiber content of the pieces and the number of times I dipped them.
I’ve written about the process of indigo dyeing before: several posts, in fact. You can click on links here and here to see earlier posts…or if you are reading this later than the original post, type “indigo” in the search box and you’ll find more with photos of finished projects using indigo-dyed pieces.