Sun Dying

Today was great!  I was in charge of the sun dying at our Undercover Gals quilt group.  We have done this about 3 years in a row now.  It is always so much fun for everyone, that nobody wants to miss it.

This year we invited another quilting group called Bethel Homemakers.  My friend Barb also came from about an hour south of us.  She is very involved in 4H, Homemakers, and a quilting group from Slippery Rock University.   Everybody brought a dish to share for a potluck lunch too. (YUM!!)

We were delighted that a few of our members that had been ill this spring were able to join us too.  One chose not to participate, and the other brought her daughter and grandkids to dye her share of fabric.

Our group bought the Pebeo Setacolor Transparent paint from   http://www.dharmatrading.com/  I highly reccomend them!  We also bought 2 full bolts of muslin to cut up and divide equally among our members.  The visitors had to bring their own fabric and they also gave us a donation to help pay for the dye.  (ok, I know it is technically paint, but I still call it a dye sometimes)

Some different things that we used to lay on top of the wet, newly colored fabric:  coins, rice, salt, lima beans, oyster crackers, leaves, flowers, grass, stones, lifesavers.  Where ever you put an object down, it remains light.  The area around it turns darker in the sun.  How fun is that??  I prefer to not use all that stuff, and just let the crinkles in the fabric be interesting.

Every year we make a quilt for the church to pay our “rent” for using the social hall all year.  Next year the quilt will be made of these fabrics.

Here are some pictures from today:

There is a great set of directions/tutorial at the Dharma website if you want more info on how to do this kind of dying.  We used a whole little jar in 3 or 4 cups of water.  We diluted the dye MUCH more than recommended.  That was done on purpose, as we were trying to make a little stretch a long way.  And they wanted pastels.

Thanks for looking.  And if you do anything similar, let me know!