magicmoonmusings

I've been hoarding hand dyes for 25 years. I've used some of them over the years but my very favourite pieces are sitting there looking too gorgeous to cut up lol - but I'm now ready to use them and enjoy them.

Some of them were hand dyed / hand painted by Caryl Bryer Fallert-Gentry and I was lucky enough to buy them from her when I took a few workshops with her back in 2001. They are sooooo beautiful and they remind me of those fantastic classes. Caryl was an excellent instructor and a class act.

So, how do you use your stash of hand dyes? Incorporated into traditional piecing? Do you design art quilts? Do you make bags? I'd love to hear from others who also go crazy over these fabrics.

effika

Have you considered a quilt pattern that will feature them? Maybe something like Atomic Starburst by Violet Crafts or a shadow box or window pane pattern?

I know when I was able to knit I would hoard hand dyed yarn until exactly the right pattern came along to show it off. I liked socks best-- who doesn't need more socks? But a cowl or scarf would let the colors be shown off too. I loved pairing a hand dyed yarn with a solid to really emphasize the color changes in the yarn.

QuiltMom2

I never could afford a lot of hand dyed goods, but they are outstanding in applique.

beckyw

I had two yards of hand dyed fabric . Made a apron out of the fabric . The fabric came from India. The fabric is red with gold stamping. Took me ten years to make something out of the fabric. I just love the apron. A friend went to India on a trip. I asked her to bring me a piece of fabric back with her.

Iceblossom

I was lucky enough to find a huge bag of hand-dyed fabric at the thrift store. I think I paid $9.99 for it. It was a treat to be able to simply use the fabric as fabric and not worry about the expense. The quality of the greige (untreated) was fine and it was all lovely to work with.

The dyer had obviously been working with specific techniques and different amounts/times of materials. There were only 3-4 maybe different designs but a whole lot of color variation.

Unfortunately, what I found was the dyes had not been properly fixed, that is they ran like thieves into the night. Since I didn't know what they were dyed with, it was harder to fix them. I ended up having to heat set (boil or microwave) them in addition to every other additive and technique known to dyers.

But hey, my car was in the shop and it was Bonnie Hunter time, and I the colors were pretty much what she was suggesting -- except that I used Bright Yellow as a neutral instead of white.

I still have a tote full, I will be making a large scale "camo" colored log cabin (oranges and greens) with some animal silhouettes as cabin style framed blocks.

At the quilt guild show last year, I actually won a door prize of some fancier, more purple/pink. I haven't decided where to go with that, I'm thinking maybe more pictorial? with like a watercolor garden gate foreground and muted flowers and sky in the background.

cashs_mom

I've used hand dyes over the years. Mostly in wearable art jackets

petthefabric

I have "Just can't cut it" disease. They're so beautiful, I hang them on the wall for years. After that time, they became regular fabric and recently, I've found a use for some and cut them.

cashs_mom

That's a great idea! I might hang some of my "Just can't cut it" fabrics on the wall. Maybe I'll finally use them.

AprilM

YES!!! Hand-dyed fabric is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Like many of you have found, sometimes its just hard to justify cutting into it. It IS a one of a kind creation! But, im getting older now and giving myself some permission to cut into my pretties. :-)

Recently, in going through one of my UFO boxes, i found some vintage fabric (1950-1960) that i bought in an antique shop in 2006 thinking it would be great for making kaleidoscope (one block wonder) blocks from. At the time i couldnt find any modern fabric that could be used with the vintage fabric because the colors just werent right. So the vintage fabric went into the UFO box awaiting my retirement until a couple months ago when i excitedly pulled it out like a great archeological find - lol!

THIS TIME, i went straight to my hand-dyed stash and found TWO PERFECT COLORS! I sure am glad i am old enough now to give myself permission to use them.

tropit

Hand-dyed fabrics are just amazing. I love how interesting the colors are and the bespoke look to them. I've never worked with them, but would love to. They're usually too expensive for my quilting budget. Maybe I'll get the dau to help me dye some myself. It might be a good mother-daughter project. We can make smaller items s/a pillow covers, or table runners with the fabric we dye.