Last week there was a glorious Spring-like day when I could throw open the door of the workshop and get the natural light and fresh air I’m already desperately missing. So, I spent it dyeing some beautiful new Silk/Rayon Charmeuse, silk scarves, some silk velvet and lots of “muffins” of cheesecloth. Up until now, I’d been using 100% silk Charmeuse and getting glorious, soft colors, but I wanted some punch. The addition of rayon did exactly as I’d hoped!
It’s the Ice-cube parfait method you may have seen in Quilting Arts Magazine using Procion MX dyes, that I chose for my experiments. This process is seriously fun, but it takes three days before one sees the results – and patience is not my strong suit!
Eight big jars and a huge storage container later, and now I wait………….
Finally the results are out of the jars and drying on the railing, outside. In the foreground are the new silk/rayon charmeuse fat quarters. Don’t you think they just glow?
Of course, they never look their best until washed and ironed, but I was pretty happy at this stage!!
I couldn’t wait to tear into all the textures and jewel-tones! This is a tiny piece of Freelace I made with snips of the silk velvet, charmeuse, cheesecloth, fancy ribbons and Swarovski crystals. It is very hard to capture the feeling of this diminutive fragment, but to me it feels like the essence of sunshine, fresh air and a rare Spring day in December.
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