Linen, You’re Cool!

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StyleArc PetaAfter so much travel, I’ve finally gotten my sewing mojo back. Before my travel to hot and steamy destinations, I picked up two pieces of linen at Jo-Ann. I normally do not utilize Jo-Ann’s convenient location for fabric, but I didn’t think I could go wrong with 100% linen. And, you know, coupons.

I wanted a couple of pair of lightweight, cool pants for my summer travels. Digging through my pattern stash, I chose the StyleArc Peta Pants. (StyleArc is an Australian company that turns out some wonderful designs of simple, classic clothes.) I first made a Peta muslin in an old piece of a high quality lightweight linen that had been in the fabric stash for about 20 years. I cut them above-knee length or, actually, as much as I could get out of the remnant I had. The fit was fine, so I moved forward. The bronze pair I cut sort of crop-length. They were finished before I went to Japan, and went along for the ride. And I made the tan pair full length, as shown in the pattern, but without the drawstring. They were cut out before Japan, but didn’t get sewn until I got back. I was able to finish them before I headed to Interlochen to take the grandbabes up for camp. And that muslin, which was a namby-pamby light pastel—and that’s NOT redundant—blue-violet? I’ll be dyeing that pair with Procion MX Indigo and will have a bonus pair of shorts, now that it’s starting to feel like fall. Oh, well, they’ll be ready for next summer.

My newly 17-year-old granddaughter came over today to help me do some sorting and organizing with my stash, so the first task I gave her was take photos for me in the pants. That was much easier and faster than trying to do it myself.

Here’s the review:

StyleArc Peta PantPattern Description: “Great pull on pant with beautiful leg shape.” (Quoting the StyleArc website.) Really, if you fold the hem up to the knee, in a size 16 it’s about 1¾ to 2″ shy of being straight leg, i.e. it tapers in 1¾ to 2″ from the knee to the hem.

Pattern Sizing: 4-30. Pattern available in both printed and PDF. I cut a 16. I wear 14 in RTW.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Typical minimalist instructions. The only problem was the pockets.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? Oh, the pockets. The pocket pattern piece is rectangular. The picture of the pocket pattern piece in the instructions is a typical in-seam pocket that you’re used to seeing, if this is not your first pattern with in-seam pockets. On my muslin, I didn’t bother with the pockets, so was unaware of the discrepancy between the printed pattern piece and the instructions. When I got to the bronze pair—the crops—I put the right pocket in using the pocket pattern piece that’s provided, then I said to hell with the left seam and just sewed it as if it were intended to be pocketless.

For the tan pair, I spent time digging through my stash of patterns from the Big Four (Butterick, Vogue, McCall’s, and Simplicity) to find a pair of pants with in-seam pockets from which I could borrow the pattern piece. Finally found what I wanted, redrew to match the shape of the side seam, lengthened the top so it would come up to the waistline fold and be fully enclosed in the waist casing. I followed the directions from the pattern instructions of the borrowed-from pants, and am very happy with how it ended up.

Fabric Used: 100% linen from Jo-Ann’s, light- to mid-weight.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Here’s a picture of the pockets—click on the photo to enlarge, then use your device touch screen to zoom to see the detail. (Oops, when I shot the picture just now, I realized I only edgestitched the right pocket, not the left.) My side seams and inseams are double-stitched about ¼” apart, as I would do with knits. And then the seam allowance is trimmed close to the outer stitching and zigzagged to prevent fraying. And look at that casing for the waist elastic. I’m in love! It’s an incredibly comfortable finish, and quite pretty, if I do say so myself.

StyleArc Peta hemsI cut 1¼” strips of fusible tricot interfacing, fused them to the hem allowances, zigzagged the raw linen/interfacing edges, then folded on the inner cut edge of the interfacing and pressed. This gives me a lovely crisp hem. The picture looks like it’s double-needle stitched, but it’s just a single needle run once around (I hand-baste from the inside along the cut edge of the hem so can get a very straight seam line.), then I moved the needle closer to the hem by about an ⅛” and followed the previous seam line around.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I actually prefer a narrower leg in my pants, but Peta definitely has a place in my wardrobe. For a straighter-leg pant, she’ll now be my go-to pattern. Yes, I will sew it again.

Conclusion: The only reason I classify this pattern as Intermediate skill rather than Beginner is the challenge with the pocket pattern piece. If you’re a beginner, make a different pair of pants or a skirt with in-seam pockets first, then make a copy of that pocket pattern piece and the instructions and store them with your Peta. Or just skip the pocket altogether. No harm done.

Let’s be honest. I was hesitant to post the backside photo of the bronze pair. But really—aren’t I better off knowing what I look like from the backside in these pants? For a 68-year-old carrying a couple dozen extra pounds, it’s okay. It could be much worse. And now I’m motivated to step up my daily walks. (Besides, DGD said it looked okay. And she’s 17. She wouldn’t post a picture of her grandma if she was embarrassed by the way I looked in the photo. Would she???)

Pants styled with an Eileen Fisher cotton ballet-neck t-shirt and an Eileen Fisher silk knit tank. Mephisto platform mules from about fifteen years ago, and Vionic flat slides from last summer. Pictures taken on the front steps of my 90-year-old home.

Bali Batik Going Back Home

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Kaye Tunic FrontI’m leaving for Bali in eight days. Two years ago this week, I was scheduled to leave for Bali on Thursday. The Jazzman and I had just returned from Easter dinner in Columbus with his brothers and their families. I was carrying our bags out of the car when I caught my toe on the sidewalk. I realized I was going down and was determined not to break my wrist again, so consciously threw my body into a turn to protect my wrists. In doing so, I fell on my back on the lawn in such a way that the muscles in my back were severely bruised. After a trip to the ER for X-rays, I was in so much pain that I knew I could not live through the thirty hours of travel required to get from Youngstown to Denpasar. My Bali Fiber Tour was cancelled. ☹

Duffel

Duffel bag made for travel to Bali

Fast-forward two years. I took advantage of another opportunity and signed up for another Bali Fiber Tour with Barb Alexander. The best part of the tour this time is that nine of the ten women on the tour are alums of the Design Outside the Lines workshops that Diane Ericson (previously co-taught with Marcy Tilton) hosts several times a year in various creative locales. The women on this tour understand my passion for fabric and textiles. I’ve partnered with Tina Daily, a Portlander whom I met and instantly clicked with at the Design Outside the Lines session in Taos last June. We’ve been in touch weekly since we decided to take this journey together, and even had a sew-a-long making duffel bags out of canvas that Tina ice-dyed as our carry-on luggage. And now we’re one week away from departure.

Once I washed the three meters of fabric and hung it up to dry, I realized the ginkgo leaves were sparsley printed on one meter of the fabric, but the other two meters were densely printed. Cool! A great opportunity for playing with mix-and-match. Searching my pattern stash, I realized the StyleArc Kaye Tunic was perfect for this fabric. The sleeves and the pocket were the place for the sparsely printed section, while everything else would be cut from the densely printed section. In the photo at the top of this paragraph, you can see my shoulder, with the sparsely printed sleeve and the densely printed body. (All photos are clickable for enlargement.) Love this pattern play.

Here’s the review:

StyleArcPattern Description: A long line tunic top with a unique symmetrical hemline that creates a flattering draped effect

Kaye tunic side viewPattern Sizing: 4-30. I ordered the paper pattern in a size 16.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes.

Were the instructions easy to follow? StyleArc’s instructions are succinct. See my comments in the changes section.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I love the bias-cut pocket. The neckline is very flattering. Dislike – nothing.

Fabric Used: Rayon batik created during one of Barb Alexander’s Bali Fiber Tours two years ago. At the last minute, I cancelled because of a fall; Barb completed my batik project and shipped the fabric to me after the tour.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I’m 5’8″ and usually add up to 3″ to the torso of a tunic. I added nothing to this and it was fine. If you’re vertically-challenged, you might need to shorten the body some—or you may need to skip the Kaye tunic. (Maybe make it without the pocket, but the pockets are one of the best features of this tunic.) The only (IMO) glitch in the instructions was in the insertion of the sleeve. I undid the side seams ⅜” at the armscye. Sew the sleeve down to the ⅜” opening. Then pin and sew the bottom of the sleeve to the top of the side/pocket panel across from side seam to side seam. Leaving that seam open the ⅜” makes inserting the sleeve much easier. (Otherwise, you’re going to have to carefully pivot at the ⅜” point on that top of the side panel seam. Tricky.)

Kaye tunicIn the comments on a previous review, a reader asked about the hems on the pockets. Here’s how I handled it: The first step is attaching the pockets to the side panels. At this point, I fused a ⅜” strip of fusible tricot to the hem, turned it up and pressed, then top-stitched just inside the hem allowance. The tricot is soft enough to not stiffen the soft drape of the pocket, but firm enough to give me a crisp fold on the hem. When I attached the pocket/side panel to the back and front, I left ⅜” of the front and back pieces extending below the bottom of the pocket. Then I fused a ⅜” strip of tricot interfacing to the front and back hems, folded, pressed, and top-stitched. The edges of the front and back hems meet the hems of the side panels as if it was all seamed together—but it’s much simpler! (Again, IMO.)

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I will absolutely sew this again. I’d like to try it in a firm knit, maybe a light ponte. I do recommend. Just take your time on the side panel and the sleeve and think it through.

Conclusion: Beautiful, drapey, flattering tunic to wear with leggings. Can’t wait to wear to dinner in Bali.

Duffel

Here’s another look at the fabric that made these bags. To see more of Tina’s beautiful work, here’s a link to her Etsy shop.

We took a Craftsy class to make the bags. The class is Betz White’s “Sew Better Bags: The Weekend Duffel. The bag is not an easy make, but we’re happy with the finished bags and will be carrying them onto the plane with us for the long trip. I leave from Cleveland; Tina leaves from Portland. We meet in San Francisco; thirteen-and-a-half hours later, we’ll land in Taipei. After a four-hour layover, we’ll fly to Singapore. We leave SFO at 12:45am on Tuesday and arrive in SIN twenty-two hours and forty minutes later, at noon on Wednesday. We’ll hang out with Tina’s niece in Singapore for a couple of days, then take a five-hour flight from Singapore to Bali, when our two weeks of creativity begin.

Did I say I can’t wait? I can’t wait!!

A Second Courtney for Bali

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On the heels of Friday’s seersucker StyleArc “Courtney” top, I made a second Courtney from a lightweight linen. And I love it!

StyleArc Courtney in linenWhile constructing the seersucker top, I also had a dye job going. First I took a pair of Eileen Fisher stretch knit crops that I hated the pale gray color of, and dumped them into my wringer washer that came with the house (lucky old house purchaser!). I had prepared the dye bath with a bottle of Rit liquid dye in Taupe. The pants didn’t contain much fabric, and half the bottle would have been sufficient for those pants to come out a lovely taupe color. But I used the entire bottle and they came out somewhere between avocado and olive. And I love them! As the Rit process didn’t involve adding soda ash or anything that would expend the color, I was pretty sure there was enough dye in there to turn a piece of white linen with tiny pinstripes an inch apart into a beige that would be more practical for travel. So I wet the fabric and tossed it into the old washer while rinsing the crops.

<Sidenote>
You might wonder why I kept the wringer washer and why I love it so much. My regular laundry wash machine is a Bosch front loader. Forget about trying to dye anything in that. The old washer agitates the heck out of any piece of fabric I put in there, which is exactly what you want when repurposing an older garment that’s already shrunk all it’s going to shrink, or a piece of fabric that you want an even color on. That washer and me—we’ve got a love affair goin’ on.
<Sidenote Off>

Dyed linenIt is an odd shade of beige/ecru, but isn’t that the fun of dyeing fabric? It’s got the tiniest hint of pink to it, and I love the fabric and the finished top.

Linen topThis sewing experience was basically the same as the seersucker, except I didn’t need to reference the instruction sheet at all. One thing I didn’t mention in the previous post was my hem. This is a trick I learned from Diane Ericson last summer at the June “Design Outside the Lines” retreat in Taos. On all my knit garments, I fuse a strip of tricot interfacing to the hem allowance. The width of the strip is equal to the depth of the hem. In other words, if the hem is ½” deep, I’m going to cut strips of fusible tricot to equal ½” wide and the circumference of the skirt or pant or top hem. Once fused in place, all the loose threads are fused into place. You don’t have to do a double fold on the hem. You don’t have to zigzag or otherwise finish the hem. Just fuse, fold, press, stitch. On a knit, I stitch with a double needle and wooly nylon in the bobbin. On a woven, I just single-needle stitch. Voila!! Love!!

I don’t think tricot is required. I’ve also done it with bias strips of Pellon SF-101, or even on-grain strips. If my hem is perfectly straight, as on a pair of pants, I’d cut on-grain. But if the hem has a curve to it, I want bias-cut to be able to move with the curve when fusing. The important part is the fuse. I want fusible interfacing to grab all those thread ends on the cut edge and keep them from raveling once my garment is finished.

ThreadAs I was preparing to sew, I searched my thread stash for the perfect thread color. I found one small spool that had about a tenth of the thread remaining. My nearest thread stores (rhymes with “hate-that-store-ann’s) are ten miles away in either direction. I did NOT want to interrupt my motivation to drive up there and deal with them. (I should write a blog post on my feelings about coupons being required to get a decent price. Why can’t stores just set reasonable prices and do away with the coupon BS?!)

So I started sewing with a beige in the bobbin and a cream on the top. Yeah, yeah, the cream was near at hand, and the beige was a bobbin already half-full. Each seam allowance was zigzagged, pressed, and topstitched. Anytime I finished a seam, I’d change to the nearly empty spool of thread, topstitch the seam, then pull it out an inch from the needle and clip. And look at what was left on my spool after sewing the last stitch. Bwah, hah, hah – I tricked Jo-Ann’s.

And I’d say that’s a sign this top was supposed to be finished on Saturday before going out to dinner with friends. No, I didn’t wear it to dinner. It’s still fricking winter in Northeast Ohio, even though we got a breath of spring the past two days. I asked the Jazzman to take photos of me on the back porch, so I could show you that the Royal Star Magnolia blossoms are budding. Alas, getting decent light on the subject meant you barely see the little blobs of white in the background on the first photo. But there is green. There’s lots and lots of green. I may be able to live until spring comes to stay. In the alternative, I think I’ll head to Singapore and Bali for three weeks. ☺

A Cool Top for a Hot Climate

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Seersucker topYou know how I get when a trip is upcoming; I want to sew-sew-sew and wear all me-made garments on the trip.

For my upcoming trip to Bali, the travelers on the tour have been warned to be prepared to be dinner for lots of mosquitos carrying lots of “bugs.” I’m taking a strong DEET mosquito repellent spray, plus mosquito repellent wipes, plus a repellent with eucalyptus oil, plus a product called Permetrhin that you spray on your clothes before traveling.

Here’s the description of Sawyer Permethrin Insect Repellent Spray:
“Permethrin, is a synthetic molecule similar to pyrethrum that is taken from the chrysanthemum flower. When applied to clothing, Sawyer Permethrin Clothing Insect Repellent binds to the fabric, eliminating the risk of over-exposure to the skin. Permethrin is odorless when dry and will not stain or damage clothing, fabrics, plastics, finished surfaces or any of your outdoor gear. This 24-oz container of Sawyer insect repellent employs an easy-to-use trigger spray for effective, effortless application. Applied to clothing and other fabrics, each application lasts through six washings or 42 days of UV exposure.”

Although the literature indicates Permethrin will not harm fabrics, even silks, I’m hesitant to spray it on expensive tops. So i wanted to make a couple of lightweight cool tops that I didn’t care about damaging (if the literature lied).

I dug a couple of old pieces out of my stash—a lightweight turquoise and white pinstripe seersucker and a white linen with a tiny black pinstripe running lengthwise. More on the linen in a couple of days.

I dug through my pattern stash and chose StyleArc’s Courtney top to make in the seersucker. It sews up quickly and as soon as it was done, I threw it on with a pair of white cropped knit pants. I was instantly in love.

Here’s the pattern review:

Pattern Description: An everyday top with interesting design lines

Pattern Sizing: Misses 4-30. I ordered a 16.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes

Were the instructions easy to follow? Typical StyleArc instructions – short, sweet, and to the point.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The design lines on the top front and the cut of the neckline make for a very flattering top.

Fabric Used: Pinstripe Seersucker from my stash.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: I’m 5’8″. Added 2″ to the length. I’m a 38DD and did not make any changes to the bust! Yea!!

You may have seen that I wrote a review of this in January when I made it up in a knit. After wearing the knit version a couple of times, I really felt like I was wearing my pajamas. Go down a size when making it in knit.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This is my second time around and I’ve already cut out a third in linen.

Conclusion: Perfect lightweight top for my upcoming Bali Fiber Tour. Easy make – cut it out the night before, and have a new top before noon the next day. This is a keeper!

A Little Evening Bag

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Black Evening BagI’m heading to Southern California next week for a special wedding on April 15. The bride is my great-niece, my half-sister’s granddaughter. The mother of the bride, the grandmother of the bride, and I will be traveling together on Wednesday, and the aunt of the bride will be following on Friday evening. My sister has been most gracious in including me in all the planning—including turning to me for wardrobe consults. You know I loved that!!

Today I whipped up a little evening bag that might be used by either the MOB or the AOB. It’s based upon the Big Bow Clutch tutorial by Melissa of Polka Dot Chair.

Black Evening Bag liningI wanted a solid black, but wanted the bow to be in a different finish than the bag itself. I ordered a 100% polyester Shantung Sateen fabric from fabric [dot] com. This is, effectively, a satin-back shantung. The bag was sewn with the shantung finish as the right side; the bow was made with the satin finish as the right side. I stuck my hand deep into a stash of silks, and came up with a fat quarter of white china silk that I had splotch-painted with a bunch of different bright paints many years ago. It had been resting, just waiting for an opportunity, like this, to bring some pizazz to a simple little black bag. All pattern pieces were interfaced with Pellon SF-101.

I made the bag much smaller than Melissa’s tute bag. The fabric pieces ended up being about 5½” x 9″. After a lot of pfitzing with it to come out with the finished bag, it’s about 5″ tall and 7″ wide. I love the explosion of color when the bag is unzipped.

I bought a Mary Frances beaded bag for myself around Christmas. Then when we were working on pulling the perfect GOB outfit together for my sister, I found the ideal little Mary Frances bag for her, also. (Suzanne’s boutique in Boardman carries this brand locally; I can’t stop eyeing her entire stock every time I’m in the store.) These bags have snake chain straps with lobster claw connectors that I love. I looked high and low online to find a chain strap that was the right size and would be delivered quickly. I found it on eBay from the vendor Deeliciousee. Ordered on Thursday of last week, it arrived on Monday of this week.

And how is the strap attached, you might ask. I took a 4″ x 1″ strip of the black fabric, folded it in half, right sides together, and sewed down the middle of the strip. Using the tiniest FasTurn tube, I turned it right side out. The seam allowance fills the finished fabric tube to make a very nice strip. I cut two pieces about 1½”, folded them in half, and sewed them at each end of the zipper. (There’s more to the process, but I’m only going to tell you if you’re a sewist and seriously interested in trying to replicate this fastener loop. PM me.)

So the bag is finished, and tomorrow I’ll run over to Medina to visit my sister and deliver the bag for my nieces to squabble over. (Don’t worry, I’m taking a couple other evening bags for them to choose from, if they’d rather. This auntie aims to please.)

Little Bags for Old Friends

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BagsIn mid-March, I attended the 50th reunion of the Class of 1968 of Forest Lake Academy, near Apopka, FL (Orlando outskirts). I grew up in Orlando and attended Orlando Church School (now Orlando Junior Academy) from 1st through 8th grades, and Forest Lake Academy from 9th through the first six weeks of 12th grade, when I dropped out of high school and started college a semester early. I was a rather lost soul. It was the 60s. I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Bags - LiningFor years I’ve attended the reunions of the Class of ’67, as my BFF was a part of that class, and that’s the class I started college with. This year I decided to attend the ’68 reunion, as those were the “kids” I had started first grade with. In fact, many of the students in both the class of ’67 and ’68 were people I had known since I was three or four years old. Orlando had a large Seventh-day Adventist community, and everybody knew everybody.

Bags - pullsMy reunion weekend schedule included arrival on Thursday afternoon, then dinner with my brother, his wife, my best friend, and another couple, the husband of which I had known since I was four years old. On Friday I would have lunch with a dear friend from before first grade, and on Friday night would attend the opening reception of the reunion.

<Sidebar On>
If you’re not an Adventist, let me tell you how our reunions differ from the standard high school reunion.
A) We don’t dance.
B) We don’t drink.
So rather than just getting together for a big expensive one-night event including lots of music from the 60s and a catered meal, we hang out for an entire weekend, including a Friday night reception where all the classes in attendance are acknowledged, church on Sabbath, a noon meal, an afternoon of visiting, an evening meal, and maybe a boat ride or a picnic on Sunday. Very different from “Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion” or “Grosse Pointe Blank.” Very.
<Sidebar Off>

Continuing with my schedule—On Saturday (Sabbath) morning, I would attend my brother’s church and provide much piano music for their enjoyment. Then we’d have lunch and I would then drive up towards Mt. Dora to visit with a college suite-mate from my time at University of Central Florida. After that visit, I would go back to the meeting venue where my classmates were hanging out. I’d see my second college roommate, and then have dinner with my classmates. Sunday I would drive to Tampa, spend the day with my college piano duet partner, then have dinner with my middle brother and his wife.

Two bagsI wanted to have something special from my hands for these friends. When I’m giving my little zippered bags to friends in a group, I like to have one more bag than there are friends, so they can pick and choose their favorites. So the giftees would be (#1) my sister-in-law in Orlando, (#2) my BFF, (#3) the wife of my musical friend from elementary school, (#4) my college roommate, (#5) the woman who spearheaded all the planning for the reunion, with whom I had been texting and talking nonstop for the previous four weeks as we attempted to find as many missing classmates and faculty members as possible, (#6) my college suite-mate, and (#7) my piano duet partner. Seven bags, made in about three days while answering all of the ongoing demands of life. That concept of one more bag than there were giftees? Not happening this time around!

Bag interiorAfter the first three gifts, I picked out the bag I thought my piano duet partner would like, then texted pictures of the three remaining bags to my college roommate, who lives in Sarasota. I knew I wouldn’t see her until late on Saturday, and wanted her to have her pick. Both my suite-mate, who chose from the two remaining bags, and the reunion planner, who didn’t get a choice, said the colors they got were their favorite colors. Cool how things work out, huh?

Last bagThese bags are again crafted from Jedi Craft Girl’s “My Favorite Zipper Pouch [Tutorial].” (BTW, Jedi Craft Girl’s real name is Amanda, just in case you were wondering.) I’ve probably made at least forty of these by now. Here’s the link. If you’ve made this pattern and would like to see more of Amanda’s brilliant ideas, just search for “favorite zipper pouch” on her website and you’ll get more inspiration with version 2 and version 3.

The fabrics were mostly from designer Allison Glass’s Chroma collection, with a few fabrics rescued from my stash.

The best part of this story? Several friends have emailed and texted me since the reunion weekend, telling me how much they love their little bags and how the bags are getting constant use.

I have a lot of great friends from years gone by. #luckyme

Honing my shibori knowledge

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Fabrics on displayUp-front warning: If you’re already a knowledgeable dyer, this post will be of minimal interest to you. I’ve written it with a lot of explanation for my friends who are not fiber-addicts or have never thought about dyeing fabrics beyond the occasional box of Rit from the grocery store.

Are you saying to yourself, WTF is shibori? Glance at this blog post, discovered while writing this post. xo to Erica, executive editor of HonestlyWTF.com.

Some of you know that I’m traveling in late June to the International Shibori Symposium in Japan. I’m mostly self-taught in fabric dyeing and shibori techniques. I’m at the experimenting and dyeing stage. I have not moved to the chemistry stage, where I treat the preparation of the fabric in a more scientific fashion, weighing the fabric to determine the required amounts of dye and other chemicals. Right now, I’m still in the hobbyist phase.

My Bali travel partner, Tina, and I each have 4+ yards of “prepared for dyeing” (PFD) cotton lawn to make pajamas for our Bali trip. She is very experienced and knowledgeable about shibori. (Visit her Etsy shop filled with gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics.) She has dyed her fabric and finished her jammies. On Sunday, while at a standstill on the duffle bag I’m making—in a distance sew-a-long with Tina—I dedicated time to dyeing the fabric for my jammies.

PFD cotton is natural cotton, after weaving and washing. It has had no sizing or finish applied, and is an off-white color like a light shade of ecru or cream.

For this learning exercise, I relied heavily on Lynne Caldwell’s “Shibori: A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Color & Texture on Fabric.”

I use Procion MX Fiber Reactive dyes, manufactured by Jacquard Products (or Dharma Trading’s equivalent house brand). Fiber reactive dyes are designed to work on cotton, silk, linen and rayon fabrics. They are colorfast, washfast, and lightfast and create a chemical bond with the fiber. They work with room temperature or warm water, and don’t require any special processing to set the colors. (An acid dye requires a steam bath to set the colors.) And if you live in Ohio or a midwest area that has a Pat Catan’s store, they stock a small selection of Procion MX colors. I can run pick up a bottle and get right to work, rather than having to order online.

I wanted to try Itajime Shibori for the pajama top. I had cut the 4+ yards into two 2+ yard pieces, one for the pajama top, one for the bottoms. I have a Pinterest board for shibori ideas, which primarily amounts to resist techniques for dye application. I also have numerous books. But what I saw recently that inspired me was a different method of folding for the triangle application. I thought. And yesterday I folded and wrapped according to what I thought I saw. Instead of making one great big stack of folded triangles, I folded one continuous length of 3″-4″ folded fabric into triangles, then made two equal-thickness conjoined stacks.

Once I had the fabric folded as I wanted, I needed a resist to force the dye solution to the folded edges of the stack of fabric. I had a very nice cutting mat I purchased in a set of four at Sur La Table. Then I sacrificed the vegetable mat in the great bat-trapping incident. Afterward, even with much scrubbing and bleaching, I knew the mat could never live in my kitchen again. (The bat? He revived quickly when I moved him outside. May he never return!) I was able to take my heaviest Fiskers upholstery shears and cut the mat into eight triangles that I could use in and on the stack for the resist. I needed a bucket of clamps that’s somewhere in my disorganized basement. When I couldn’t find the clamps, I grabbed some light twine and wrapped that around the conjoined stacks to hold the resist triangles in place. Looking at the stacks after I was done wrapping, I wished I had placed the two rectangles more centered across the “bridge” between the two stacks. But when one is experimenting, there are no errors.

For this piece of fabric, I wanted the edges of the triangles to be an orange-rust shade. Then I would dye a second time with a lighter, orange-yellow shade. For the orange-rust, I used Procion MX Rust Orange, 16. For the orange-yellow overdye, I used 50:50 Procion MX Soft Orange, 5, and Golden Yellow, 10. What you see in these two pictures is the Rust Orange. The white is where the triangle-shaped resists prevented the dye from penetrating the fibers.

After rinsing the fabric with Synthrapol to remove any excess dye that had not bonded with the fabric (and to prevent bleeding on subsequent washings), I prepared the second dye bath. I wanted a yellow between the rust bars. There are numerous steps one must complete when dyeing fabric: wet the fabric and “scrub” it (if it’s not PFD) to prepare the fibers to accept the dye; immerse the fabric in the dye bath; after half an hour, add a soda ash solution to further open up the fibers to absorb the dye; rinse until the water runs clear; run through a short washing machine cycle with Synthrapol. The amount of dye powder used in the dye bath depends on how saturated a color you want. If you want a light shade, use one teaspoon of dye powder in one cup of water. Medium, 3 teaspoons. Dark, 6 teaspoons. My rust bath was dark—6 teaspoons of dye powder dissolved in a cup of water, mixed into the two gallons of water required to fully immerse the fabric. For the overdye I used one teaspoon of Soft Orange and one teaspoon of Golden Yellow.

After removing the overdyed fabric from the dye bath, rinsing it in my big cast iron sink, and throwing it into the washer with the Sythrapol, I turned around to the work table and saw my measuring cup of soda ash solution waiting to be added to the dye bath. Oops. How much of the dye would still be on the fabric after the Synthrapol rinse removed the excess?

Look for the good. The beauty of this inadvertent error was that my dye bath was still usable for my second piece of fabric. Because I had this great geometric print on the top, I decided to just scrunch the fabric into the dye bath for a mottled look. I put it in, let it sit for fifteen minutes, then picked the whole mass up and turned it over, letting it sit for another fifteen minutes. Then I pulled it aside, stirred in the soda ash solution, and shoved the mass back into the dye/soda ash liquid. After about ten minutes, I squeezed some of the dye out, put it in the big sink, and rinsed it several times.

The first piece was sitting in the washer, waiting for its partner to get out of the bath. By this time, the first piece had been through two Synthrapol rinsings. The rinsed second piece was placed on top and a kitchen towel I had been using to wipe up spills was thrown in on top, then I ran another short cycle with another teaspoon of Synthrapol. When that was complete, I ran a full cycle with detergent.

Returning an hour later, I stretched it on my basement clothesline for pictures. I was a little sad to see that more of the rust lines had dissipated, so that the grid wasn’t as prominent to the design. Compare the second grid picture, above, pre-overdyeing, to the top picture, post-overdyeing, after three Synthrapol rinses.

I spent about fifteen minutes in various parts of the house trying to get true-color photos. We had a rare day with bright sun. Note to self: must set up a corner in the basement where I can get decent photos.

(I think this picture I just took this morning shows the colors the best.)

So what do I think of my results? I’m happy to see the difference with and without the soda ash. Without the soda ash to open up the fibers, the spaces “under” the grid are sort of a flan color—you know, a good housemade Mexican flan. The piece that was treated with soda ash is more pale butterscotch. It’s a richer shade than the sans-soda ash piece.

Am I pleased? Yes, I’m very pleased. I love the colors, and I love the fact that when I hung them on the line after the final wash, they hardly wrinkled. Very soft. Perfect for pajamas for a hot and humid climate. In the day or two before my missing parts for the duffle bag arrive, I’m going to get started on my pajamas.

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Hand[le] Me My Laundry

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Laundry BasketHere’s a quick Sunday tutorial. You know the big plastic laundry baskets you can get in the hardware or home goods stores? Have you ever felt they were incredibly uncomfortable to carry when returning the clean laundry to its home? Or what if you have it overloaded with sheets and towels and you can’t carry it with one hand? Try walking up two-and-a-half flights of stairs, carrying the basket with two hands and risking falling head over heels down the stairs?

Here’s your solution.

Taking your quilting ruler or whatever straightedge you’ve got handy, measure and draw a horizontal line about ½” above the highest circle. Turn the basket around to the opposite side and repeat. Now using heavy duty shears, cut the handles off along that line. I used my heaviest Fiskars shears that are intended for home decorating projects. Do not use any of your dressmaking shears or any scissors reserved for fabric.

Cut off handlesThe leftover pieces will look like what you see in this photo. You can throw them in the recycle bin. I’ll put mine aside with my other odd things that can be used as a resist in fabric dyeing.

Now you need some webbing or belting in a width between 1″ and 1½”. Cut two pieces about 36″ long. If your webbing frays, coat about ¼” of each cut end with FrayCheck or glue and let it dry. Lace the ends of the webbing through two of the holes. I chose the second hole out from the center hole. I laced mine from the outside to the inside, and then turned the edges out so they matched the concave top of the hole.

Make sure you have laced each piece of webbing through the two holes on one side, not across the body of the basket. If this doesn’t make sense, look at one of your double-handled purses. (Or check out this cool Betty Bowler bag from Swoon Patterns – my favorite bag pattern designer.) You want to be able to carry the basket lengthwise, not crosswise.

Here’s the trickiest part of the project: Arrange your sewing machine in the middle of your table so you can balance the basket on the table.

With the basket balanced to the left of your machine, turn about 3″ of the end up and stitch back and forth over the raw edge, attaching it to the webbing on the outside. I kept angling my presser foot to have about eight rows of stitching covering about a ¼ to ½” near the end.

Et voila! That’s all it takes to make transporting your laundry less painful. Okay, so you still have to deal with the washing, drying, and folding part. But isn’t this a great solution? You’re welcome.

Now I bet you want to know where I got the gawdawful neon coral webbing. My Portland sewist friend, Tina, and I are making duffle bags for our trip to Bali. Tina ice-dyed the canvas (exterior fabric) and cotton (lining). The bag needs handles and I wanted to use cotton webbing instead of sewing and folding the canvas into straps. It required shopping online and trusting the colors on my display to match one of the orange/yellow/pink shades in the dyed canvas. When I went to cut the straps the other night and held the webbing up to the fabric under good light, I realized I had misjudged the color. Grossly misjudged! So I ordered some undyed cotton webbing and a couple of colors of Procion MX dye to make new webbing that will match the fabric more closely.

And what to do with the old webbing? I realized I was sick of hurting my hands on the old laundry basket.

So there you go!