Powered By Blogger

Sunday 11 May 2014

New life for old sheets

The last time I met up with the lovely Jayne Hewison, textile designer, we had a really good rummage on the stalls at Tynemouth market.  I came away with, amongst other things, a pair of unused 1940s Utility bed sheets, still held together with their original ties.  I've decided to use them as the basis of the hand dyed quilt I have planned, and I have finally finished dying the first one.  The last pieces are in the washing machine as I type.  I'm delighted with some of the effects I've achieved, and less impressed with others.  Now it's time for a rest.  I'll wait 24 hours, then I'll lay out all the pieces, decide which ones are worth keeping as they are, and which ones need to be over dyed. That's the great thing about this kind of hand dyeing - I can continue to alter the colours until I'm happy with them.  I'll stick to using the Dylon dyes in the same palette until I'm satisfied with the results, but in future I'll buy procion cold water dyes as I find them easier to work with.  I can see me buying one or two colours in large packs per month until I've got a good range to work with.  I'm also thinking about putting together packs of hand dyed textiles and paper to sell, if anyone is interested.  Watch this space for photos.

2 comments:

  1. Looking forward to seeing your photos Michele, love a good rummage you and I!!

    ReplyDelete