Friday, August 16, 2013

You need heat to make the dyes work

but gees I can surely do without the 90% humidity which we have had plenty of the last three days.  Started ironing yesterday evening, but  my three year old Rowenta Iron died.  Had to get a new iron. It is a Black and Decker that I already know I do not like.  It drips water so I am resorting to using a mister bottle instead of the steam setting.  Despite that I got (25 yards)  of  fabric  ironed,  neatly folded and ready to be put away. 

The chair is filled with 25 yards of dyed fabric.  This pile was done with Testfabric 400M.  Will let you know how easy it is to iron, which will be the test and determine for me if I will order it again.  The lack of ironing needed right out of the dryer was "the"  thing I liked most about Kona PFD after the weight and feel of the cloth. 
I had about 20 yards of previously dyed fabric in colors I knew I would never use (blues and some ugly to me purples and raspberry).   I put the whole lot into one  big bucket to over dye with a mix of black, navy and strongest red.  I am anxious to see if I get some really interesting dark/darks from the lot.
The whole bunch has been batching since about 3 PM yesterday.  I would have done the rinse out process this morning except I went off to the Friday group.  We met at the church today.  On the way home I  stopped at the market with plans to pick up 3 items...   English walnuts. paper towels and gluten free bread.  $119.00 later and needing help to get from the check out to the car (3-24 packs of bottled water which was on sale) and other stuff later  I returned home to the hottest part of the day.  Yesterday I also cut 25 more one yard pieces of cloth with plans to  dye them today but  it was "hot and humid" out and my garage faces South,  there was no way I was going to spend time out there this afternoon.   I decided to iron instead. 
Right now, it looks like it is going to  rain as predicted.  I hope it does and  maybe the heat and humidity will break making tomorrow a better day to spend out in the garage.  Will let you know how the over dyed cloth came out.

3 comments:

Laura said...

I know how you feel, I dye in my garage and it faces south and gets sun all day long. It's my sweatshop, that's for sure! I dry my newly dyed and washed fabrics on the clothesline and never have to iron it, plus it dries really fast when it is so hot.

kathy loomis said...

1. about the iron: don't worry, the Black and Decker will die soon.

2. about the fabric: before you decide you like Testfabrics 400 see how you like sewing and quilting it. I think the mercerized fabric takes dye beautifully but if you ever have to rip out a seam the holes are there forever.

Patricia said...

Looks beautiful! I have some dyeing to do as well before it turns too cool here in TN, but I just didn't want to brave the heat and humidity either.