Color by Accident

Summer time is dyeing time. In last years I tried out rust dyeing and dying in a hot bath, this time I decided to try something I have never done before: working with fibre-reactive dyes.

Surfing the internet I came across the website of the US artist Ann Johnston, who offers not only her book “Color by Accident”, but also a great video course, which I finally bought. I can definitely say, it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Ann is a great artist and a great teacher as well. I couldn´t imagine that one would share that much know-how. 

After reading her book and watching her videos I finally felt ready to start.

I actually collected material for dyeing for weeks already. Old bed sheets, table cloths, a few meters of new cotton fabric by Ikea, threads, thread buttons, old laces, old and new ribbons and also some vintage crochet covers and bobbin laces I was able to buy on the market.

I bought four colours of the Procion MX dyes at first, but after reading Ann Johnston’s book I bought five more.

The Sunday afternoon was spent with “alchemy”: urea was dissolved in hot water, then dye powder was added. I also prepared the soda solution. 

I was helped by my dear husband, who not only supported me with advice, but also with his laboratory equipment. All these beakers, small and big, were absolutely helpful! 

He also went through his stash and found some useful bigger containers I could use.

 

I added some plastic dishes from the kitchen.

The whole Monday and Tuesday were full of colour, excitement, amazement and big fun.  At the end of the day, I always was quite exhausted, but happy. 

I had help and technical control all the time:)

I actually tried out only some basic methods, nevertheless, it was an exciting experience. I love my new coloured stash - both the fabrics and the threads. They are so inspiring!

They are not ironed yet because of the enormous heat of the last days, but I´m looking forward to it.

 

Happy stitching

Michaela

 

She Sews Sea Shells

 

My favorite e-shop Šití nití („Sewing with thread“) is open again! The new start is rather slow, there are some new fabrics and also some older ones on sale but nevertheless, they are back! I´m very happy because the choice of fabrics and individual taste of the owner of this shop is very similar to mine. The most important thing: she orders fabrics by Janet Wecker Frisch, one of my favourite artists.

Janet’s illustrations and her fabric design inspire me immensely. I just love her visual humour and fabulous details. I´m not able to create just something simple from her fabric pictures, I´m always tempted to add a bit of myself to the creations. Last but not least, I love her Halloween collections, they are simply the best I have ever seen.

Now, to get to why I´m happy today. The website "Šití nití" offers some older collections and I was able to buy three amazing pieces from the collection „She Sews Sea Shells“. I knew for sure that the fabrics would be nice, but they are just beautiful in reality.

 I´m one of those quilters, who pre-wash everything. I did so this time too. The beauties hang in the garden now, I can´t stop looking at them, I love them!

I use illustrations by J.Wecker Frisch quite often (also on these bags), here for example a pocket wall hanging for my niece

Happy stitching!

Michaela 

 

Czech Kanafas

 

Like many other people I´m in home office, in my case not permanently but every other week. It’s not a holiday of course, the work has to be done. But working from home brings some advantages, for example, the delivery of online orders is much easier because you are mostly at home.  I used the chance fully,  four diverse orders were made: a big order of spices (Koření od Antonína), a new cutting mat and an inch-ruler, a big order of bird feed and last but not least, many meters of Czech kanafas.

KANAFAS is a Czech product, a very nice and sturdy cotton fabric. It is a double sided fabric made of beforehand coloured yarns, woven into smaller or larger stripes or squares. I just love working with this material, I use it for making linings in my bags. For this purpose I order mostly two patterns – small white and red and white and black stripes. This time I ordered also ecru. They are all just beautiful.

 

I order from Český kanafas, a small family business, they have a nice choice for a reasonable price. But there are also smaller producers with very interesting small collections like Atelier Terej. The price is higher but the patterns are unique and very amazing.

I just love this one by Atelier Terej. I´m thinking about sewing a dress for my self. Next home office week, next order may be?

Happy stitching!

Michaela