Today we are...........
 

Our Wednesday sew group Tabitha's Cupboard is having a dye-ing fabric and sew day with our Granddaughters that have an interest in quilting. They range in age 7 to 12.

Hailey my nine year old GD is going with me. She made her first quilt last summer while school was out with us. Today she is excited that we are going to dye fabric as well as kids doing a shirt or two if they bring them.

We will all be having breakfast at 9 a.m. promptly, which I'm told will be egg and bacon burrito's. Seems kids love this as a food for breakfast. For lunch I'm providing Little Ceasar's pizza's and someone else is bringing desert and salad to go with it. I'm sure someone else will provide drinks for them.

It should make for an interesting day.

After we dye fabrics we sew but I don't plan to sew but rather start cutting templates for some quilts I designed so I can at least have it done so I can start making one of them soon.

Sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe at the end of the group event you can take a picture of all the girls together for us!

sounds fun to me

Enjoy your time with Hailey and the others. She will have memories from this to treasure for a lifetime!

Dayle

that sounds like so much fun. Wish I lived closer. (Guess I would need a granddaughter too) But that would be so much fun. Enjoy the day!!

Sounds like a great day!! Have fun!

Sounds like fun. I really enjoy it when I am able to work with my GKs

I hope your day goes well....post us some pictures of your fun group....

Sounds like a wonderful day for all!

That sounds like so much fun I just love doing any craft with kids I sew weith my gd which is fun but she is 22 wish one of my younger gd was around to sew with

What a great fun thing to do!! Enjoy!

What dying method are you using? I've still not used the fabric reactive dye. I have some here, just haven't used it yet.

Unfortunately we did not get to take photo's of this event yesterday. No one thought of doing so but next time we do I'm going to make sure to take photo's.

We had tonadoes hit this area and boy did rain (actually poured) so hard if we had stood out there we would have been rained whipped to death literally.

Not all was lost though. We still managed to do some dyeing of fabric and shirts. Where we were at the lady has a huge area with roof and cemented area where we could be at to do the dye-ing and only a step or two outside of the double-wide that is the studio. Some of us just got wetter than others checking on the materials being dyed at the appropriate times.

Everyone seemed pleased with the outcome of this little adventure. I brought home the fabrics I dyed and GD's shirts to set the colors in the washer last night and it all came out nice. I will take photo's of that later today and post it. GD is coming over to get her shirts and to go through my stash of fabrics and borrow one of my sewing machines to take home with her. She says she has a friend who wants to learn how to sew who plays with her quite a bit.

There were only two girls age 7 and 9 and a 16 year old that came. A few other grandmothers came but seems at the last minute the GD's decided not to come. We had 6 ladies that came. There were suppose to be more but I think the threat of the storms kept some away.

The 7 and 9 year old got some sewing done and a couple ladies took it upon themselves to teach them how to press fabric as well as how to safely use a rotary cutter. The 16 year old did not sew this time but she did dye some fabric and shirts.

So nice to share with future generations the wonderful crafts you are so good at. I am always amazed at your patterns that you share. And green with envy because you are so much more talented than I. Keep up the good work. I so look forard to whats next.

I am so afraid of dying fabric. I don't know why. Maybe I need someone to hold my hand and walk me through the process. Good for you for teaching the little ones how to do it.

This was my first time dyeing fabric. Our host Dorothy was the one teaching us how to do it and she was using a book her sister sent her called The New Color Wheel Fabric Dyeing by Kathy Widger.

I have had dyes and other materials here at the house that I was suppose to use last summer and it was just to hot here to be out there in the heat dyeing fabrics and of course holidays came and went. Weather is cool this time of year so now I've started doing it.

1) Preferred to use "prepared for dyeing fabric" however you can use any 100% cotton washed to get sizing out.
2) Place fabrics in what is called "ash water" for 30 minutes.....
3) Use color wheel in the book to chose your colors and using plastic cups and buckets prepare your colors...enough to cover the material. Most of us used the 16 oz plastic cups you can get in grocery stores, Walmart, etc. Empty and clean coffee can made of plastic are also good. If you want to dye more than a yard of one fabric in one color use larger plastic buckets, cans, whatever.
4) Once you have your colors prepared place fat quarters or larger in appropriate containers and leave there for at least one hour. If you want it to have multicolors ruffle up the pieces and roll and place tightly in containers. NO THIS IS NOT tye dye. Tye Dye uses rubber bands along the way to get the effects of tye dye.
5) When hour is up take other plastic buckets and fill with water and place like fabrics in it to get rid of excess dyes such as blues/greens; .... reds/yellows,oranges... etc. Leave it for about 30 minutes or so then go back out there and continue adding new water until you get it clear. EVERY PIECE MUST HAVE IT CLEAR WATER COMING to make sure all dyes are out of it...excess dye that is before washing to set colors in permanent. If this step is not done most likely when you do wash it will bleed.

Those are the steps we used.

If you want solid rich colors throughout the piece you will not ruffle it and roll it. You will simply put it in the buckets and make sure there is enough coloring dye to cover it.

Personally I want to get into Batik dying and have ordered materials to learn to do that. With Batik dying waxes are used along with the dyes and the process is somewhat different.

That sounds like a lot of fun!

you are making some fun memories for you and the girls, have fun.

WOW, that sounds like loads of fun! Have fun with your grand daughter and all the other children there! I hope that if I have a grandchild that they will be interested in any of the crafts that I do! I loved doing stuff with my son, maybe I will luck out! Now my son is only 19, so a grandchild is in the FAR distant future! lol

TreeFrog

I have 4 grand daughters that would love to do this! I'm going to go back and reread the info and set a date for the young ladies come over to Nanas house!! Thanks so much for posting!

I wish I knew how to add pictures to this website.
Last weekend, my 4 1/2 yr old granddaughter made her first quilt with me!
She picked out the colors of the strips from a jelly roll. Her tiny hands held the sides of the strips while I sewed. She learned how the needle works and you must NEVER put your hands too near the needle. She learned "needle down" and moved the wheel to do that. She used the "foot up and foot down". When it was time to make the quilt sandwich, she wanted to learn how to use the closed pins so I showed her and she used 48 pins to hold the quilting sandwich together! Again she held the fabric so it went straight and we quilted together. After that, she unpinned the pins! She picked out the binding colors and I put it on for her. When I hand stitched the back of the binding, I put the needle in and she pulled the needle out. I loved her leaning against me watching and helping. It was a significant time for me and I am sure, a significant time for her. We both signed the lable, dated it and sewed it on together. She has been sleeping with it every night since. If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will eventually. Right now just imagine the tiny hands of a 4 year old softly working with a grandma's hands and the two of us loving every moment. (The quilt is about 18"x20")

Sounds like a fun day with Hailey. Enjoy!

That sounds like so much fun. Good memories will be made and hopefully a new quilter will be further determined to pursue the art.

You and your DGD will have lots of fun, and lots of memories will be made, i am expecting my first DGD in May, I can't wait, so many plans, i hope she will want to learn to quilt when she gets older, Your such a great grandmother and your granddaughters will always remember this time with you. Have fun

Sounds like a wonderful day! Wish my DGD lived closer and little older.

Sounds terrific. I am seriously thinking of taking up dyeing...did a bit in the 70's (tie dye of course:)). Let us know how you went.

Sounds like a fun day.

Sounds like an awesome day. Ditto on posting pics of the dying party!

What a lovely day you must have had. Any feedback on how it went?

Oops! Sorry, I impulsively replied after reading only the first page. Thanks for the directions on dyeing. I'm dying to try! Maybe after this weekend's class.