Category: fabric dyeing

Mimi’s Boys Working

I’ve written about this quilt before, but didn’t have good photos of the quilt or the risque fabric involved.  Recently, one of the grandsons loaned the quilt to me to use in a couple of talks I was giving to quilt guilds.  

The story always brings smiles to other quilters, and I have renewed determination to make a quilt for myself where I include some of this fabric.

I love toile fabrics, and selected this to make quilts for two little boys some twenty years ago.  And, yes, I still have some of the fabric left.  I don’t think of myself as a hoarder, but a collector of stories.  And fabric holds stories.  Especially fabric like this that has had a few years of life.

The fabric line from Moda, called Tom and Huck,  features scenes of boys painting a fence, fishing, swimming, opening a treasure chest; things you expect boys to do.  I made a few blocks, pieced them together, and had two cuddle quilts for grandsons.

I selected different scenes to feature in the largest blocks and named the quilts based on that scene. This quilt is Mimi’s Boys Working, the other is Mimi’s Boys Fishing.

Years later, one of the grandsons made me realize that a new line of fabric had put swimming trunks on the diving boy.  Until then, I didn’t think about my boys being embarrassed that I had made them quilts with nekkid swimmers on them.  

A little web research turned up an image of the later line of fabric complete with trunks.  I guess I have to approve, because the trunks are blue.  This later line of fabric was released by Marcus Bros, not Moda.  I don’t know the ins and outs of fabric production, competition, and copyright, but I bet there’s a story there.

While this quilt was on loan to me, I took it outside for a photo shoot at a local library.

More details of this quilt are in an earlier post here.

And speaking of stories, I’m reminded of one about my Daddy diving into the water at a Sunday School party and his trunks coming off.  It seems the adventure was unplanned and he borrowed swimming trunks from a chunkier friend. Thankfully, he was a skillful swimmer and could stay under water long enough to retrieve them.

Old Indigos

On a sunny day during a bleak week in January, we went for a ride about and took along a quilt. Old Indigos posed beautifully at Auchumpkee Creek Covered Bridge.

You know I love indigo…and I love vintage fabrics…and I love playing in the dyepot.  This project combined all that.

I cut up some old indigo fabrics and appliqued a few flowers.  I used some fabrics I had dipped in the walnut dye bath as backgrounds, and just stitched simple flowers.  

Since all these rectangles were different sizes, assembling them could have been complicated.  To piece them together, I would place them on the design wall, measure carefully, and cut precisely sized bits of khaki linen (my “sashing” fabric of choice for this project), then sew together.  I’ve done that before and it’s not too hard using some gridded paper.  But this time, I used a much simpler process.  I arranged the floral blocks in a pleasing manner, pinned them to the khaki linen, and appliqued those rectangles down, too.

The final measurements for this project are 27” x 31”, perfect for spilling out of a basket or draping across a piece of furniture.

I finished this quilt almost a year ago…but just haven’t been posting on this site. Technical issues have convinced me that it’s time to find another way to share.

I’ll be moving my stories to other formats.  Exactly what form that will take is uncertain:  some Facebook, some Instagram, maybe a book.  

The site and the 250 or so posts I’ve already done will be here on my website until early February, at least.  If there are old stories you want to reread, or to save, now’s the time.

I’m on Facebook as Sandra Hasty Gilreath, on Instagram as Sandy A Beekeepers Daughter. 

Iron Water

Remember the really pretty tatting I dipped in the walnut dye?  I wanted it darker, began doing some research and learned about iron water.  We have plenty of rusty nails around here, so soaking them in a jar with vinegar and water was not a complicated process.

I had attempted some rust dyeing in the past with less than spectacular results.  But I hadn’t mixed iron water with the walnut dyed fabric.

Below are images from baths in the iron water only, and some things dyed in walnut dye, then iron water.

Before: this is a bit of linen sheet and some old tatting previously dyed in indigo, some old tatting not yet dyed.
After: those same pieces after a bath in iron water only…no walnut on these pieces.
It’s always a delight to see how different threads take the dye differently. The monogram on this linen towel is stitched with cotton thread. The linen towel was only in the walnut dye, the tatting was in walnut dye, then iron water.
Here are the two sides of a bit of a damask tablecloth. These were soaked in the walnut dye a few days, then dipped in the iron water.
This linen towel shows how powerful the iron water is combined with walnut. This whole piece was not in the iron bath, just the walnut…but the residue on my gloves made these splotches. I find the spots interesting, not offensive.
The top doily here was dyed with walnuts, then composted. It was unintentional composting…as I was rinsing these new pieces, I discovered the doily in the leaves – left there from the earlier walnut dyeing day.

I am very pleased with the results of this combo…soaking in the walnut dye, then dipping in the iron water.  Lesson learned:  make more iron water.  I had experimented with a small quantity, so only small pieces resulted from this trial.  But more, more, more, to come….

This is the featured photo on the website, but for those who just read the email version, you would miss this….I always think I need to mix browns with blue, you know….but maybe some with green, too.

The recent blog post on walnut dyeing is here…if you missed it or want to refresh your memory on the before and after images from only a walnut bath.

Before and After

In the past week, three friends have given me fabric and linens.  I’ve received wool, barkcloth, commercial linens, and handmade lace.  Am I excited?  Oh, yes!  As I dig deeper in the boxes, I discover more and more treasures.

Some of these treasures have been swimming in the walnut bucket.  I even strained the old walnuts out to make a cleaner bath for them.  

These are the same walnuts I collected in the fall.  I put them in a bucket of water, let them ferment a while, then dipped some treasures.  I wrote about the first ones here.  

That mixture sat through the winter months.  Yesterday, Jim helped me pour the mixture through a bit of cheesecloth to see what months of stewing would do to the dye.  I photographed the results in pairs…before and after.

I love the texture of barkcloth. Both pieces you see here are nice, but the darker one seems more interesting to me.
Bits of an old petticoat white, then darker. I love tucks….and I’ll remove some of the stitching later. It acts as a resist to the dye.
This tatting is gorgeous in its original state, but the darker color really enriches it. The top row in the image is the color all of it was before dyeing.

I had hoped to dye some of the tatting black.  I love this coffee shade I got, but the next step is to dip some in an iron water bath to make it darker.  I have nails sitting in water now.

Maybe my favorite fabric to come out of the dye was this bit of damask. I love how the dye increases the contrast in the woven design. Yes, more of this fabric is soaking in walnut dye now!
A couple of oval doilies before and after a walnut swim.

In December, our friend Paul was visiting and told me he had bought some hats to wear to work.  But they were white.  VERY white.  He wondered if there was some way he could get them darker.  I said, “I happen to have some walnuts in a bucket of water outside if you want to try that.”  He was willing to let me dip his hat.  Here are the results.  Paul was happy. 

I guess you noticed most all these brown beauties were posing on an indigo dyed linen tablecloth….I can’t wait to stitch some of this blue and brown together!

108

In the last couple of years, I’ve been obsessed with circles. 

One of my explorations dealt with blue and white circles appliquéd to a brown linen tablecloth.  For all these projects, I didn’t count the circles…just made them until I thought I had enough.  I laid the blue circles on the brown linen until I liked their distribution, pinned them in place, and started appliqueing them.  

I wanted to hand quilt this larger piece using the seed stitch.  I love the texture that stitch gives.  I’ve used it on smaller pieces a lot, but wanted to see it on a big piece.  I used Aurifil #12 thread, stitched a double seed stitch overall though only the top and batting.  Then I added a backing layer (a piece of an indigo overdyed linen sheet) and stitched through all three layers with the same thread around the circles. 

I never had a title in mind for this as I worked – I presumed one would come to me.  My working title was “blue circles on brown”.  That could have worked for a final title.  But as I neared the end of the stitching, I decided to count the circles.  107.  That could work..it’s a prime number and I like those.  But, I needed a label on the back.  If that label was a circle, I’d have a total of 108.  108 has meaning in my life and I love for the quilt title to have meaning.  

I grew up in Turner County.  During the years I was learning to drive, our county’s number was 108.  So, the title of this quilt was born.  

Between 1957 and 1970, county codes were used as part of an auto’s car tag.  The first numbers on the tag were based on the respective population of the county.  Out of 159 counties in Georgia, my home was 108th in population those years.

Notice that on the label, I used some of the trims I’ve recently dyed with black walnuts.  It’s tempting to “save” those precious bits we made or altered, but I’m in the business of using them.  Here the tatting that took the dye so well borders the 108th circle.  Oh, and the fabric circle is cut from the center of the napkin with the embellished corner.

I made Dots and Vines, which you’ve already seen, stitched some circles on a bit of linen for a scarf, and made these blue circles and appliquéd them to a remnant of a brown linen tablecloth. I have lots of prepared circles waiting to become part of another quilt, too. The post on Dots and Vines is here.

I guess this little brown linen pillow with buttons attached fits the circle category, too.

I’ve referenced my love of the blue and brown connection before. One post describing a rolled up quilt exploration is here. And a sweet little case I found that’s blue and brown and toile and bows is here.

This finished quilt measures 40″ x 60″, a lap quilt for reading or watching tv. And, yes, for napping.

Going Nuts

One of the things I do in the fall is collect acorns.  Every year I find myself coming home with a few perfect specimens after every day’s walk.  I add them to this bowl…eventually it is filled and I admire it through the winter.  In the spring, I throw them out.  In the fall, I begin again.

I don’t know exactly what the fascination is with acorns.  I grew up with pecan trees.  I gathered plenty of those in my childhood.  That was the source of my Christmas money every year.  Oaks and acorns came later in my life….

I’m still collecting acorns this year…but my latest fascination is with walnuts.

A few years ago, I attended a Folk Life Festival at a historic site in Tifton, GA.  Among the many delights there was a woman using walnut and indigo dyes to make the most beautiful yarn.  I was captivated.  From her I learned that walnut doesn’t need a mordant; that you collect the walnuts while in the green hulls; that they must ferment first, then be boiled before you can dye with them.

I followed those instructions and dipped a few things, but it was a lot of trouble.

I’ve experimented with brown commercial dyes before (that post is here) but the walnut gives a more pleasing color to me. I love the surprise of the varying richness based on the fabrics I use and the time it soaks.

This year, I gathered some black walnuts in their husks, put them in a bucket of water, covered it, and began the fermenting process.  After a couple of days, I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I dipped a piece of fabric in there as they fermented.”  A friend had brought me a pretty white cotton napkin and I submerged it among the walnuts.  In a few days, I had a nice bit of brown fabric.

I found another napkin, damask this time, and some laces…added those to the bucket for a few days.  Look at how gorgeous these are!  

I had a few pieces of vintage linen that I wanted to see what happened.  So I cut a few pieces of those, added a worn white cotton tea towel, and a skein of white embroidery floss.  I left these just a couple of days…not wanting to completely obscure the checked pattern in the linens.  Oh, my, I’m loving this!

The images above are before and after of dipped fabrics.

And of course you aren’t surprised that I photographed some of the browns with some blues. Earlier confessions of my love for this color combination are here and here. And, if that’s not enough, type “brown” in the search bar…there are more!

Now in the pot are a few more treasures.  I don’t remember exactly what I put in there, but do know that some old pink rickrack is getting new life.  Stay tuned.

And there are a lot of hickory nuts around here, too. Hmmmm….

As I wrote this and revisited the photos from the Folk Life Festival, I guess that’s what encouraged me to play with indigo dyes, too. There’s a whole category in the sidebar for that!