fabric dyeing

whooohooo! today was the beginning of my venturing into dyeing fabric for quilting! in with all the acid dyes in the cupboard, there lurked 10 or so little jars of MX dyes in a variety of colors, and in the fabric stash there lurked a couple of yards of plain white fabric. so, i jumped into the project with great hopes and will know the outcomes of 4 little experiments tomorrow a.m. and will get photos... if the results are worth it. i was talking with Anne, a good friend who was visiting from Vietnam... she is a fabric dyer and quilter of great talent and creativity. she advised that it is ultra important to be meticulous in measuring dyes and chemicals and keep very exacting notes. this is so contrary to my haphazard methods, that in no time my eyes glazed over, my brain went into hibernation and i started muttering that i have no desire to keep records and repeat any dye batches. i may have to eat those words, but if i do, then my fabric dyeing will be done, finished, over with!! i'm sure that the meticulous approach works well for many people, but hell will freeze before that entices me in the least. the closest i can get to that is the precision and measuring that i've (so far) had to use in quilting. i'll open up the baggies of dyed fabric in the a.m.... and might take photos.....

9/2/07 - difficult to get a good representation of colors and placement of colors on the whole piece.... first is clear red and sunshine yellow dye powders sprinkled on fabric wetted with sodium carbonate water, put in baggie and mooshed around a bit and left overnight, then washed out and dried on hot in dryer --tho it looks like white areas, those are actually a light color
and clear blue, bright violet and forest green sprinkled on (same as above)