If It's Sunny, Make Fabric

Last week was sunny almost every day, and it continued into the weekend, despite the weather predictions. I had been reading about resist techniques, especially shibori, and couldn't resist going out on the patio to try a few things. This first one was folded in half (that's why one side is so much lighter) and then pleated. I put salmon/brick paints along the tops of the pleats and greenish yellow along the bottoms. I think I unfolded it too soon, and since this paint sun prints, it faded quite a lot. But it may be useful.


This next one is a faux tie-dye. I did the typical tie-dye sunburst, gathering and bundling with rubber bands. Then I painted on the different colors. Dye would penetrate all but the bound areas, I think, but the paint can't go through so many layers. I touched it up the next day with more turquoise.

On Sunday, I got a 4" diameter tube and tried out pole-dyeing (still with paint). I'm really happy with these. The first is a long narrow strip that was wrapped diagonally around the pole and then wrapped with dental floss. Then it was all squished down to the end of the pole in folds. The second one was cut the circumference of the pole plus a seam allowance, and then sewn into a tube. I pulled the tube over the pole, and squished it down into folds, but didn't bind it with cords or floss. I wet both pieces to help the paint spread, then painted stripes of blue and periwinkle paint. The periwinkle mostly disappeared into the blue, and it seemed that all of the fabric was turning the same medium blue shade. However, since it took over a day to dry and the paints sun print, the inner folds turned out pale and the outside bits are nice and dark. This is definitely worth trying some more.

You can actually see the faint striping of blue and periwinkle in this one. It's more apparent in this photo than in real life.