Welcome to my blog! This is my journey, dyeing fabric and creating unique textile designs. My starting point is, (nearly) always, 100% pure white egyptian cotton – just begging to be transformed through dyeing and sewing into a ‘one of a kind – thing’. Planning is always loose at the outset and ‘opportunities’ arise all the time – yes, usually when I realise the original thought just won’t work and I need to adjust my thinking.
Occasionally, I divert my attention from dyeing and start playing with fabric transfer paints on polycotton fabrics, or, rummage through my stash box of felt/voiles/organzas/wool tops and create samples which have the potential to evolve into bigger projects. I struggle at times to keep my creative head in the moment, focussed on the current project, and often find I’m thinking ‘what if I did this……’ or ‘I wonder what would happen if I added that….’.
So, right now, I am here, dye and fabric at the ready deciding which colours to explore. I try to restrict myself to 1 or 2 colour schemes to work with at a time – otherwise things quickly get out of control; I end up with too many bags of fabric dyeing to fit on the clothes horse…..not to mention the dye splatters all over the place!
I love colour – vibrant, bold colour! I also love the absence of colours, greyscale and shadow. I like to explore how colour dyeing works – what happens when different colours are mixed together in different combinations. The best bit though is always the washing out stage – discovering that I have dyed yet another batch exactly the same as previous attempts, or, I’ve forgotten to add enough soda as fixative, or, not enough salt to intensify the dye, or………. I have remembered everything, and the resulting fabric swatches are indeed perfect. That’s a great result!
Current project – this sounds so simple – to bring order to all the fabric scraps I have dyed recently and create a swatch book with details of the dye ratios/colours used. I am disciplined enough to pin these details on the swatch when first dyed – then I get distracted and start another project. So here goes….photos to follow…..they might be the finished book or, some wonderful project that captured my attention en route!
Happy creating, Clair.
Hepzibah Flair 