Virtual Retreat Aug thru Dec 2015 Info on first post

[karen f.]

Judy,
I will be doing 2 cold water soaks each anywhere from 2-3 hours. That is if, I see no dye coming off as I give the cloth a quick rinse under running water. Then I would proceed to the first 12 hour hot water, with Dawn pure, soak. If the water is turning quite colored during this twelve hours, I will drain that and refill the tub with clean hot water. I would add more Dawn if I don't see any suds. It's the Dawn that keeps the dye from back staining. At the end of that first 12 hours of hot water soaking time, I will rinse and depending on how many times I changed the soaking waster, and how much the water is colored would be the determining factor for whether or not another 12 hour soak would be needed. By the time I'm ready to do the final washing and rinsing there shouldn't be any dye particles left to contend with. However, I will be washing them with Dawn just to keep things safe.
Had I never ran those sheets thru the wash that day on hot water, I wouldn't have had any color loss, or it would have been so insignificant that I'd never known. I doubt that many people will ever wash a hand dyed piece with hot water, but I will make these changes to be proactive. I also will leave my dyeing fabric in very warm areas, with plenty of moisture to process for a minimum of 48 hours from now on. That will be harder for me than all of this soaking and washing and ironing!
Vicki Welsh's article goes into great detail and it's really worth the reading time. I put the link up on my blog the other day if you need it.
Hope your dyeing days are pleasant,
Luann

Hey Luann do you mean that Dawn works like Synthrapol? I am always so tempted to dye fabric. I buy books, take classes and watch videos but it really seems like TOO much of a project to actually do right now.

[karen f.]

Dawn, and Geneva W/H = wall hanging

Dawn, love both your Hoffman Challenge, and you I-Pad cover.

Geneva glad that Sybil is home. Love your quilt for the new Graddauther, also the car quilt.
And the Halloween pillow cases.
Margarita

[karen f.]

Thank you every one for the nice words on my "Celtic Hearts"

It is all needle turn appliqué.

Margarita

[Pamela N.]

Dawn the embroidery and colours on your I pad cover are gorgeous.
Margarita I love your Celtic hearts 2, the applique is stunning.
Geneva the quilts and pillowcases that you have made for your grandchildren are beautiful. I'm delighted that Sybil has finished her fling with Mr Fix it and decided to return home.
Best Wishes to everyone Pam

[Pamela N.]

Karen,
Yes Dawn pure works as good as, or even better than, Synthropol. Vicki Welsh showed the differences between Dawn, Synthropol, Dye house's detergent, and another detergent that I'd not heard of. Also, Jane Dunnewold was the first one that I heard talk about it. I believe it was on her Craftsy class. In case you want to have a less expensive class with more serendipitous results, I'd check out her class. Craftsy classes tend to run on sale every so often. And if you sign up (free), get yourself a wish list going. If you don't purchase a class within a few weeks, they'll send you some sort of coupon. And only sign up for one at a time. Many times when you purchase one, a few weeks later you'll get a coupon that way too. Not always, and I don't know their actual procedures, but it's worth a try. I have taken several classes and I like their platform. Easy access, teachers answers your questions in a reasonable time frame, the class is yours 24/7 for forever, they even have a way of taking notes that you can go back to later. That works great for earmarking some important step you want to see again. Also, they have a way for you to view them off line.
Luann

[Pamela N.]

Just finished the tie bag :woohoo: One batch of company left yesterday, next one will be here shortly, but I found a couple of minutes and got it finished.

[Pamela N.]

Just finished the tie bag :woohoo: One batch of company left yesterday, next one will be here shortly, but I found a couple of minutes and got it finished.

[Pamela N.]

Dorothy,
Your tie bag turned out nice. And your quilting looks pretty good too!!
Luann

[Nancy R.]

All of your projects look great, Geneva! I'm so glad Sybil is home and hope that only her good personalities show up from now on!

I really love your tie bag, Dorothy! I was a little skeptical about how it was going to turn out at first, but it turned out gorgeous! Wonderful job!!

[Dawn S.]

Yup, Dorothy! Your tie bag turned out great! And, the quilting is wonderful for someone who has not been quilting for very long!

I'm sorry all of your summer guests have to see this beautiful area at it's worst! We can't even see the other side of the lake today, here on the north end. I'll be glad when all of the fires to the west of us are under control or out completely.

Dawn

[karen f.]

Thanks LuAnn for the info on Dawn. That's interesting. I love the Craftsy classes too and when I read your post it made me think that the Jane Dunnewold class sounded familiar. Sure enough I already got that class! Maybe I didn't have time to watch it yet?

[wendy w.]

Great bag, quite different using ties

[Marianne G.]

Dawn - that is an awesome iPad cover. What Brother machine have you got? I think Brother includes some very nice free embroideries with their machines. I've got the Innovis V3 and love it.

Lotti, thank you for idea of including washing instructions and colour catchers with a gifted quilt - I will do that in the future.

Your Celtic Heart applique is beautiful Margerita!

Now Sybil! Don't you dare thow more hissy fits and no more assignations with Mr Fix It. You will stay in your room and do your work as and when you are told! Otherwise Mr Recycling will be along and you will be taken into custody and you will end up being lots of bits in other sewing machines. Take heed! Good luck, Geneva, keeping her on the straight and narrow!

Dorothy; your tie bag is absolutely stunning. You have pulled it off magnificently. Thanks for sharing!

Marianne

[Dawn S.]

Marianne,

I have the new Dream Machine. It is incredible! The geisha is one of the embroideries that is exclusive to the Brother, and built into the machine. Also, in the machine are 4 other geishas, but they are smaller, and have a copyright. I am very impressed with Brother's embroidery capabilities! I can go back to the exact stitch if a thread breaks, or I run out of bobbin thread! That's pretty impressive to me, since I think the geisha had around 75,000 stitches!

Have you seen the Brother FMQ table/frame that allows you to use your machine on a floating/rolling platform, like a longarm, and drive the machine instead of moving the quilt? It is a 2016 item, so I don't know when it will be available. Perhaps it will be debuted at Houston Festival. Anyway, go on their site and look for FMQ frame, or maybe you can google it and get the video. (I'm not good with links!)

Dawn

[Dawn S.]

Thanks LuAnn for the info on Dawn. That's interesting. I love the Craftsy classes too and when I read your post it made me think that the Jane Dunnewold class sounded familiar. Sure enough I already got that class! Maybe I didn't have time to watch it yet?

Karen
That's one of the things I really like about Craftsy. You buy the class and it's yours whenever you want to go to it. Malta Dabrowski also has a good one with them. She uses resists and bleaching to achieve two colors on the same fabric that would be otherwise impossible. I've got a picture around here somewhere of some examples I did. I'll look for it,,,



It was such fun doing this. I think it took 7 or 8 dyeing and bleaching steps to achieve all this color and design work. I loved every minute of it, even though I got tired by the time I was done.

Luann