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Friday, April 10, 2015

Dye and Stitch

Tobacco, Tea, Coffee Grounds, Rusty Nail

I like to experiment with dyeing and "aging" fabric with simple processes and household mediums. I've been playing with it for a few years now and I'm hoping to teach myself how to use plant dyes and even plant myself a small dyers garden. Some day.

I was messing around with some of my dye sample pieces and there was some watercolor paper 3 x 5 cards I had cut up for whatever reason and then... well things just sort of happened.


My machine has many stitch options, but the truth is I only use a very small portion of the stitches on a regular basis. I thought I might dare to use some of the fancy cross stitch options. Taking one of my bits of dyed fabric I stitched it directly onto the paper card. I was so enamored of the result I did a tiny series of them.


On the back of the cards I wrote down the fabric, dye, and stitch information.

I may just be playing with these little pieces and tiny series for a while.


Happy weekend everyone!
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10 comments:

  1. Indigo BlueApril 10, 2015 at 1:14 PM

    I love these cards. A great way to spend time exploring dye and stitch.

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  2. Sue Marrazzo Fine ArtApril 10, 2015 at 8:23 PM

    all are so awesome!

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  3. Heather April 11, 2015 at 12:27 AM

    I do love these, I didn't know you could cross stitch on a machine. I was wondering about putting one of my older doilies in tea because it's already marked! It's a lovely series, I wonder where it will lead. X

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  4. Annie CholewaApril 11, 2015 at 2:15 AM

    I thought they were hand stitched at first glance. They look like archaeological scraps.

    Alex, if you are dyeing with tea bags the next step to dyeing with plants you grow or forage for is a simple one, all that's needed is a dunk in an alum solution before the dunk in dye.

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  5. Porcupine Design April 11, 2015 at 2:26 AM

    I love to do cross stitch but had never thought of trying to antiquate pieces. They are so effective and can understand why you continued to do a small collection. Machine stitch cross stitch, now that has just blown my mind -I never thought such a thing was possible. Looks beautiful...thank you for sharing your experiments.pjx

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  6. AnonymousApril 11, 2015 at 6:23 AM

    They are really beautiful! I'm also collecting rusty nails and other small pieces for my experiments with fabric dye. I didn't try the rust yet, I have tried with some plants and with onion peals, but till now only turmeric turned out nicely for me.

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  7. vicky myersApril 11, 2015 at 9:50 AM

    These are beautiful- I love them stitched on card.

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  8. Jennifer HaysApril 11, 2015 at 9:59 AM

    They're so interesting. I'm amazed at the effect you got from the rusty nail, who knew it had so much dyeing potential.

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  9. jackieApril 11, 2015 at 10:27 AM

    These look very successful. I have been tempted by natural dyeing but tried to restrain myself. Rusting,teabags, turmeric are probably as far as I will go.
    Thanks for your comment.

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  10. Ashley crampApril 14, 2015 at 9:55 AM

    They are gorgeous, stunning in their simplicity, you really are very clever you know...
    bestest as always
    daisy j x

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