So, this is the little dyeing experiment I was referring to; I finished it last night and just couldn’t wait to wear it today!
My new skirt!
I made the skirt using Vogue 1247, of bright lipstick-red cotton velveteen from Spotlight. I lengthened the lower skirt pieces of the pattern by …er, lots… 😀 and made a separate full lining of rusty red polyacetate from Fabulous Fabrics, by splicing the upper and lower skirt pattern pieces together.
The waistband is made less bulky, by joining a long strip of the interfaced fashion fabric, cotton velveteen, to a long strip of lightweight cotton for the waistband facing. I used Rowan shot cotton in Ginger, a small piece of the leftovers from the shirt I made for my Dad here.
After construction of the skirt was complete, I dip dyed it from the top in a dye bath of 1/4 tsp iDye Brown. I did not take any pictures of the dyeing process this time, but this is what I did; I stood holding the hem of the skirt and dipped it up and down slowly and consistently in the boiling dye bath, sometimes dipping deeply, sometimes shallowly, different depths each time, constantly checking to see how the ombre was taking effect; for as long as my arms could take it. In this case, approximately 25 mins before my muscles were screaming “OMG; STOOOOP!” Then I took it over to the laundry trough for a thorough rinsing. I laid the skirt flat on a towel and gently pulled it into shape to dry completely overnight.
I am completely and utterly thrilled with how it turned out!
To my mind, the colour transformation of that deep purple-y rustiness in the top section fading to a rich ruby crimson lends the skirt a classiness that it did not have as a plain lipstick-red skirt.
below; the front view of the skirt, before dyeing. Not so interesting…? compare this to the above photo; the back view of the skirt after dyeing. Much more interesting, yes 🙂
I chose to dip-dye the skirt upside down because I wanted to have the darker section at the waistline fading down to the lighter shade. I know this is the opposite to most dip-dyeing seen around about but I really like it like this. I think it is a more slimming effect than if the waist band was bright red deepening down in colour to a darker hemline.
If you’re interested in dip dyeing, I once did a rough kind of tutorial here, which is a good method for if you don’t think your arms have the stamina for 25 minutes of dipping. And I wouldn’t blame you one bit, my arms are aching something awful today! A sopping wet lined velveteen skirt is hea-e-evy!
Details:
Skirt; Vogue 1247, red cotton velveteen dip-dyed in 1/2 tsp iDye in Brown (my review of this skirt pattern here)
Tshirt; self-drafted, white cotton dyed with iDye in both Red and Brown, details here
Scarf; basically a very long piece of raspberry knit jersey, seen first here
Cardigan; knitted by me, Jo Sharp’s Knitted Cardigan with the addition of knitted lace edging on the sleeve hems, using Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Sapote (col 216), details here
Shoes; Betts & Betts Brazilian Collection (seriously; these are older than my children!)
Pockets, in action. Gotta love that…
Picture taken around 12.30pm; Temperature at the time 21C.
Overnight low: 14C; Today’s high: 21C
Had a rainy storm overnight, but has been fine all day
Today is another me-made bonus day! my husband is again wearing a shirt that I made for him! and btw, I promise that I am not putting in any requests that my family wears my stuff this month. They probably wouldn’t pay attention even if I did 🙂 The “bonus days” I am showing here are actually normal for my family; and their clothes are, as they always are, being spontaneously chosen by them to wear. I am just including them here for fun
Craig’s shirt; Burda 7767 modified, blue linen, details here
