Tag: shibori

bookmark_borderShibori Experiments

Posted on by Elliott Evans

Some members of the Fiber Arts Guild of the Debatable Lands have been practicing their fabric dyeing lately, but it is to big a production to make up large dye pots just to try some new things out. For that purpose we had a dyeing day at Mistress Tsvee’a’s House this past Sunday. We had a vat of indigo, a tub of dark red fiber-reactive dye, and a couple of burbling vats of natural dye.

I put one carefully prepared ball of fabric into the indigo. I had fan-folded a rectangle of cotton around a point in the middle of one long edge. Then I rolled the folded fabric into a ball and tied the edge with yarn.

Indigo-dyed Folded Shibori

I put another carefully prepared bll of fabric into the Turkey Red Procion dye. I had twisted it up around two separate points until the whorls met in the middle, then again tied them with yarn. I should have twisted tighter and tied a little lighter. Still, it’s interesting.

Procion-dyed Twisted Shibori

I also dyed some twisted up cotton yarn, but that description will have to wait until the braid is finished.

bookmark_borderShibori Clothing

Posted on by Elliott Evans

A few of us did some shibori dyeing in the garage recently. The last time we hosted this, one of our friends brought a bunch of white cotton clothing she had found at the store. After that, I made some shirts from cotton muslin so I’d be ready for the next time we did dyeing. That was like two years ago, but better late than never. Here is the ensemble of both shirts.

The brown shirt kind of looks like an accident in a bleach factory, but the pattern is much more interesting in person. I used my famous pajama pattern, and even rememebered to do the top stitching in cotton thread so it would pick up the dye, After laundering, I opened the button holes and sewed on some buttons.

The blue long-sleeve tee shirt looks a little more tie-dye traditional. I basically scrunched the shirt up sideways and then put a bunch of rubber bands down it to hold it together. I like that it came out symmetrical and smiley. There were actually two different kinds of blue in the dye bath, but I think the “peacock” blue really took precedence.

bookmark_borderIndigo Shibori Silk Kosode

Posted on by Elliott Evans

A few weeks ago, Sharon hosted an indigo dyeing activity at our home. Some people came over and we spent all day dunking fabric in dye pots. I did some small test pieces for various techniques, but I also twisted up some big pieces of silk broadcloth, and then I made this kosode from that fabric.

kosode-silk-indigo-shibori

It looks kind of like an accident in a bleach factory, but closer up the indigo patterns are very organic and Rorshach-inkblot fascinating.

bookmark_borderBlue Shibori Pajamas

Posted on by Elliott Evans

After 16 (!) years, my hydrangea-print flannel pajamas (the first pajamas I ever made) are well on their way to being entirely worn out, so I decided to get around to doing some more sewing and make myself some new flannel pajamas.

Pajamas from blue shibori-print flannel

These use a great shibori-print “Snuggle” brand flannel from the fabric store and (again) my favorite sewing pattern of all time. Again, though, I left the pockets and false fly out of the pants. I did wind up cutting the fabric too short for the pants legs, so I added the same style cuff to the legs that the pattern has for the sleeves.