Mad Seamstress Weekend Re-cap

This past weekend was wicked busy.  I did so many things for the wedding it felt good but it was a little crazy as well.  My flower girl dress is done except for some closure buttons, My wedding dress Embroidery is on it's last stages, finished the black stretch vinyl jacket for my friend, a Client fitting and my my niece's flower girl dress fitting and dying the fabric for my Reception dress.

Amongst that was a field trip with my College Preview Students to Joann Fabrics for their finals.  Watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail with some friends while making wedding decorations and random Army men Pins.  I also attempted to use these little Fruit appliques to my nail that I think were thing sliced Fimo.

Now for a stream of photos to show you what I did.

 Dye Baths,  I prefer to do the stove top kettle method of Dying

 I had to borrow my friend Sheila's Designer SE because unfortunately as much as I love my Brother Innovis 900D I needed to embroider much larger then a 4x4" section.

 My silly nail Embellishments

Finished Jacket!

 On the Short Bus with the Kidlings from College Preview Fashion Fundamentals.

 My Clever TA and Former College Preview Student Graham

 Finished Embroidery for my Niece after her fitting and the straps for her dress.

Finished Dress!

Lastly my final products from the Dye baths for my Reception dress.  Jewel Tone rainbow

As you can see it was indeed a busy weekend but productive.

To Dye For

Recently with my work on my Hand and Lock submission I had trouble finding those colors so I had opted to buy dyes from Dharma Trading company .

They worked BEAUTIFULLY!  With some pointers from my friend Miss Megan Mac I was able to come out quite successful with my dye baths.  This not a clean process at all.  First you have all these  loose powders not just they dye powder but the soda ash and other preparation chemicals and loads of salt.  Also the first rule is not to wear white and not to wear anything that you particularly like because most likely it will get a splash or so of whatever color dye you are working with.  Also GLOVES you must remember to wear gloves unless you don't mind the unnatural colored hands, whilst most people will avoid making contact with your hands till it fades.  Also must remember to use pots, buckets that are clean but that you don't mind ruining.  Once a dye bucket always a dye bucket in my opinion.  I bought a cheap 20 quart stock pot off of Target to do both cold and boiling dye baths. 

I had to get the appropriate dyes to go with the fabrics I was working with.  Even though it said that Fiber Reactive dyes would work for my silk organza the Acid Dyes were said to work better.  I saved the Fiber Reactive dyes for my cotton yarns and cotton jersey.  I got a bit of Indigo pre-reduced which is the only one I have yet to try out.