All Dyed Up!

Felted blouse in the dye pot.

I was really excited to dye my blouse, I was actually beginning not to like it much and was sceptical it was because it was lacking in color.  It just felt blah.  So into the dye pot it went and now I love it again:)  I really am a sucker for color.
I think it turned out magnificent!

Shoulder/Sleeve Detail, Love!

I was also really excited that I was able to mix a color and match it to the color palette I was looking at, recognize this beautiful periwinkle color from a certain photo below?

And since I can never just dye one thing, I did a little more mixing of colors and threw a few more things in dye pots:)
This first one is a piece of scrap cotton gauze with a few pieces of scrap silk felted into it.  That's one piece of fabric with 3 different fibers in it, which means when I throw it in the dye pot, you get 3 different colors, I love that!

felted cotton and silk yardage fabric

And this was the result.  The cotton stayed white since I was using acid dyes, so only the silk and wool reacted and took the dye, a very cool result.

full piece of fabric right out of the dye pot

the white sections are the cotton gauze, the maroon cranberry color is the wool, and the brown is the silk

Love the contrast in colors and textures!

If I had used natural dyes all of the fibers would have taken up the dye and the resulting colors would have all been different.  Amazing!


I also tried a little Shibori.  I did the Arashi pole wrapping method (which has become one of my favorite Shibori techniques) with a large piece of silk chiffon, ooooohhhh la la.

There is something so magical about using Shibori techniques with dyeing.  You have a general idea of what will come out, but you just never know till you unwrap it.  Needless to say it is always a beautiful result.

Here is the finished result draped on the dress form.  Looks like this piece will be turning into a lovely skirt.
Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Blouse Continued + Shibori and Color Inspiration

She has a waist!
Now that I have the side seams and front mostly felted on my first blouse, its coming together quite nicely!
So far the fit seems good at the waist and front, so now I have to figure out the back and how to make that come together for a nice fit all the way around the waist.

Below is an upside down shot of the back now.  I love the way it looks as is, but am not really sure how it will look once its felted.  I kind of like how the silk looks all bunched and gathered but dont think I can keep that aesthetic with the felting.  Guess we'll see!

Shibori and Color Inspiration:
Yep it's time to start thinking COLOR, my favorite part!  I was doing an image search for Shibori the other day looking for some inspiration and found these beauties.

Shibori Borealis- by Margo

I found this lovely piece on the blog Her Majesty Margo who does some really amazing surface design with felt and fabric!
I love how the colors all blend and flow into each other, very reminiscent of water colors.  I am also really attracted to those shades of green lately, so beautiful!

Folded Currents - by Holly Brackmann

This piece really caught my eye, I wasn't even certain it was fabric.  I found this amazing piece from Holly Brackmann's website, make sure to check out the detail shot, incredible!

Although both pieces seem quite different, they both use similar colors to the color palettes I have been looking at lately for my practicum project.  I found these babies off of pintrest and just cant stop starring at them!

Love these for bursts of bright accents!

And I love these for neutrals!

It's almost time for me to throw the blouse in the dye pot...wonder which of these colors it will come out looking like...?
Guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out:)

Making Garments

*Haven't been here for awhile, no excuses, no apologies, just getting back on the train*

Making Garments - that is what my practicum is all about.

My goal is to make beautiful feminine garments using silk, cotton, and wool.  Using the wool fibers and the laminate felting process to join fabrics and seams, I will be sewing very little of the garments together, and using up all of the fabric without any left over scraps.

After working on some swatches last week, tonight was my first go at making a blouse using these techniques and restrictions.  And I must say I am extremely happy with the results!  The blouse is by no means finished, I have only fitted and felted the shoulders and sleeves, but I will be finishing the design of the blouse tomorrow morning.

Here are some photos of the process and what I've got so far...

This is the rectangle of fabric I started with and cut a diamond shape out of the center to create the front and back neck-line.

This is the beginning of the sleeve.

I first needle felt the wool fibers into the layers of silk I want to join.  This is to help get the felting started, and to lessen the amount of time I need to wet felt the garment.

This is what it looked like after being needle felted, but before being wet felted.

Detail of the sleeve before wet felting.

Sleeve Detail

 

Ready for wet felting!

Here is the result after wet felting, I am so excited it turned out exactly as I have envisioned it in my head.  A great feeling of accomplishment!

Here it is all wet felted! 

Sleeve detail

Sleeve detail

Back

 Now my head is swimming with ideas of how to finish the blouse!  Is the closure on the side, or the front? A nice invisible zipper?  Does one side come over and cross in the front with a nice hook and eye or button?  How do I close up the side seams?  Keep them symmetrical, or go crazy?  How will I ever decide!

How would you finish this garment, how do you see it in its final design?  I would love to hear what you think in the comments below:)