Dye Job part 1

I took a great fabric dying class at The City Quilter back in November, but never got around to writing about it.

I really enjoyed the class. I liked that the instructor had a relaxed "let's see what happens!" enthusiasm about her craft. I tend to be a little rigid, or cautious when it comes to crafting and I really have found that I enjoy teachers who push me out of my comfort zone. The first teacher who did this was Meilssa Sarris in a weekend seminar that I loved. I bristled the first couple of hours with my little internal pris whining "what do you mean there are no real instructions?" "There are no templates??" Her class was process oriented, all about exploring the fabric and sewing and cutting and letting the impulse take you to your finished quilt. It was the perfect class for me. Knocked me off my uptight stool.

Look at that quilt! (that is her work NOT mine)

Back to the dye class.

Our teacher used a great method for apartment dwellers:
1) Soak the fabric in water and soda ash
2) Squeeze out the excess water
3) Put in zip top sandwich bags, or bags appropriately sized for your piece of fabric.
4) Add the mixed dye (dye mixed with water) to the bag and depending on what kind of effect you are going for squish the fabric around to distribute the dye evenly (or not).
5) Let the fabric sit in the baggie at least overnight.
6) Dump in the washing machine and wash with synthropol.

Pics here more info to come:

Ottobre! Sleepsack for Mr. D - or Why you should sew slightly tipsy

For my birthday Mr. GothamMom gave me a subscription to Otttobre, but since I could not wait for it to ship from Finland I bought some back issues to get me started. "Well GothamMom your birthday is in August, why did it take you that long to make anything?" Well observant inquisitor...I was chicken; you have to add your own seam allowances, and the clothes look so nice in the book I was worried I was not up to the task.

This is for my 6mo old nephew, Mr. D, younger brother of Mr. H who was the recipient of earlier sleep sacks. One layer sleep sacks from a home drafted pattern. Wow. This one puts those sleepsacks to shame. (and I was SO proud of those!)

This pattern is from Ottobre Winter 5/2006



The Bad
Things I will do differently:

1) I will lengthen the back straps and shorten the front so the snaps are more on the front instead of the tops of the shoulders. I thought I had screwed up the seam allowances, but that is how it looks on in the picture.

2) I will sew the zipper on last, instead of first.

3) I will sew the zipper between the lining and the outer layers. Something I was really kicking myself about until I looked at our super pricey petite bateau ($90) sleep sack and saw that they did not sew the zipper between the two linings either. tsk tsk. Regardless of how the French do it I will sandwich the zipper next time.





The Good
- The Malden Mills fleece is SO soft. Like Butta. Mr. D is super cuddly in it. I used a pretty printed fleece on the outside, a super soft lightweight 100, and then a heavier 100, (maybe 200?) for the lining.

- The 110 size was a good fit on my 6mo old nephew.

- Pattern was easy to cut out and sew



I sewed it in this order:

1) I put the zipper on first. I will not do that again. The only other thing I have sewn a zipper in is a wetbag, and this sleepsack that I came up with on my own, where the zipper is down the middle of the front. Both of those projects I put the zipper on first. I never even thought that I should do it differently for this one.

2) Put the front pieces together with right sides facing, and sewed a 1/4 inch seam starting on the top side, up and over the straps, across the neck and to the other side. Repeated with the back.

3) Then I laid out the sleep sack so I could serge the rest of sleepsack in one fell swoop. I put the outside lining right sides together and serged them starting at the bottom of the zipper, then followed it across the bottom and up the side. Without stopping I continued to serge the right sides together of the lining, down the side and across the bottom. I left several inches open at the end to flip it inside out.

I figured out how to serge it like that after a glass of wine and hanging out on the sofa staring at the sleep sack. I did have a moment of panic while turning it right side out, that I had just sewn the whole thing wrong, but to my delight it worked out!

4) I then sewed up the opening in the lining with a stretch zigzag on my sewing machine. I could have done a pretty hidden seam by hand, but come on. This is for a baby to grow out of in a few months, and it was the lining......


Next?
I would love to make with with velour outer and knit inner. I found some great velour for a friend's baby, but not the knit inner yet, I am looking for stars in the lavender family......Any suggestions?