Adventures in dyeing

I'm back. I took a short break from this blog, and it turned into a year long break. So I thought I'd start back up with an exciting post about dyeing fabric!

I found what at one point had been a nifty white skirt with black polka-dots at a thrift store. However, the black dots were somewhat faded and the white was more of a light grimy gray. It fit pretty well though, so I decided to get it anyway and dye it some fun color.

I used my washing machine and let the fabric agitate in hot water for an hour. I stuck a yardstick under the lid to keep the washer from going into the spin cycle. The heavy duty cycle on my washer agitates for about 15 minutes, so I had to restart the washer four times before letting it go into the normal spin and rinse cycles. I then washed everything once more in cold water to rinse everything out really well.

The bottle said to use 1 cup of dye per two pounds of dry fabric. I wanted a lighter color, so I went with 1/2 cup of kelly green and 1/4 cup of denim dye. The results still turned out a little lighter than I wanted, but that's okay. Next time I'll add a lot of salt (for cotton fabric) to help set the dye better.

One thing to remember when dying clothes is that cotton picks up the dye much much easily than anything else. In the picture below you can see that the zipper is still white, and so is the white polyester thread.

And here's my nice new green skirt! I might hem it to knee length, but haven't decided for sure so I'll probably wear it once at this length before making any more changes.

Since it would be a shame to go to all that effort for just one skirt, I threw a lot of other test items in as well.

First up is a white cotton skirt that I never wore because, well, it was white.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to wear the skirt, but at least it's not bright white anymore.
 

Next up was a white polo shirt. If you haven't caught on, I don't tend to wear lots of white. I also already had another white polo, without the silly hot pink ribbon around the neckline. Even though it's on the inside, the pink ribbon was always visible and I didn't like how it made the polo look less dressy.

 

Once again, a lesson in what materials pick up dye and what materials don't. The pink ribbon appears to be cotton since it picked up a lot of the green-blue dye and turned navy, but the polyester thread used to stitch the ribbon to the neckline stayed hot pink.

 I think I will actually wear the polo now!

The last thing I threw in the dye bath isn't wearable yet. It is a really cheap (as in cheaply-made fast fashion) skirt I got at a thrift store. I love the patchworkiness but the elastic at the top is totally shot and the lighter patches are see through, so it'll take some work to make it into a wearable skirt.

I tried to take a modeling picture showing how the waistband elastic is shot, but that's about the time Dr. Richard Pussycat Feynman became interested in what I was doing and the photo shoot had to end for the day.

Tutorial: Fixing the waistband gap

I have big hips and thighs, but a smaller waist, so I get that awful gap at the top of a lot of my pants. I like wearing belts as an accessory, but I don't like that I HAVE to wear a belt so my underwear (or more :-/) doesn't show. This gap is especially bad on shorts because shorts are super casual and I never want to wear a bulky belt with them. So I took pictures to share how I fixed this problem on these shorts.

Before: stupid gap!

Cut about a 6 inch piece of elastic and pin to the back inside of the waistband. 

Stretch the elastic as you pin it, so when it's unstreteched the waistband is sort of gathered.

Sew two lines with a large zig-zag stitch, stretching the elastic as you go.

If you use matching thread it shouldn't so very much on the outside. I just sewed right over the belt loops because I never want to wear a belt with shorts, but if you want the option you'll need to stitch it in two parts, one on each side of the belt loop to keep the loop free.

This is what the inside looks like. I used black elastic since my shorts are black, but it shouldn't show in the end so it really doesn't matter if you use white elastic. If you wanted to be super fancy you could encase the elastic in matching fabric or something to make it look more finished.

Ta-da! No more gap! 

And now the internet knows just how big my butt is.. :-/

Gray ruffle skirt

I made this simple skirt out of two gray pillowcases. I couldn't find the right color gray in broadcloth, but I saw it on the bed sheet aisle...weird. It's just a straight skirt with an elastic waist, and the ruffle is made from the wide hem of the pillowcases.

I've noticed that a lot of my clothes end up looking crooked in pictures. I promise I can cut and sew straight lines and my hems really are even, I just can't seem to stand up straight in pictures!

Blue ruched ombre leopard print sun dress

Yes, those really are all words, and my newest dress is a fabulous combination them. I had never bought the fabric that comes already ruched at the top because I thought it was kind of expensive for the kind of dress you get out of it, but this was a remnant on super sale so I went for it and had just enough to make this dress. It was super simple, just one seam in the middle of the back and a hem. I added ribbon straps because I don't trust that type of strapless dress, but I think it looks a little better with the white shrug anyway.

If you want a super quick project go for the ruched fabric. I think it took me longer to pose for the pictures than it took to actually make the dress. It could be a nifty project for teaching someone how to sew because it's almost instant results and no shaping or dealing with pattern pieces.

When I bought the blue fabric there was a yellow and pink version in the remnant box too, but it was only half a yard. I'm not sure what to do with it. It only stretches out to at most 24 inches, so I either need to find an extremely tiny friend or someone with a young daughter to make a similar dress for.

Picnic dress

I picked up this nifty red and white plaid tablecloth at the thrift store. At first I thought it was only a circle and I would only be able to make a skirt, but when I got it home I saw it was really a big oblong tablecloth and I had enough to make a whole dress! It's not the most flattering print, but I wanted to play with lining up plaid and I think I was mostly successful. I used New Look 6457 and made view D, but without a belt. I added some extra darts and made the gather at the bust deeper to give it a better shape. It still sort of says "I'm wearing a tablecloth", but I like it anyway.

I think I bought this pattern about six years ago and this is the third dress or possibly the fourth dress I've made from it. I've definitely gotten my money's worth.

Tutorial: Easy way to fix a stretched out or too-large waistband

I found this nifty broomstick skirt at the Downtown Rescue Mission Thrift Store. Unfortunately it was a size too big and the elastic on the waistband was all stretched out so when I put it on I looked like the "after" picture in a diet ad. But the skirt was in good shape and worth saving. I suppose I could have carefully seam-ripped out the old elastic and replaced it, but I'm all about quick and easy solutions. This tutorial covers a quick and easy way to fix a stretched out or too-large waistband without removing the old elastic.

First wrap a piece of elastic around your waist to determine the correct size waistband. I made my waistband slightly tighter than I wanted the skirt in the end because there's a lot of bulk to the skirt, which will stretch the elastic out a little once it's sewn onto the skirt. Sew the ends of the elastic together so you have a continuous band.

Pin the elastic to the inside of the original waistband, distributing it evenly around. 

Sew the elastic to the old waistband using a zig-zag stitch, stretching the elastic to fit the original waistband size in the process. So in the end, when the new elastic is unstretched, the old waistband will be gathered somewhat. I had to use both hands to hold the new elastic stretched out while sewing; one hand held it in front of the presser foot and one hand behind the presser foot.

 
You should end up with a nice line of zig-zag going all around the elastic on the inside.

 

And if you've chosen a matching thread color you should only just be able to see the stitching on the outside of the waistband. I was out of brown thread to match the skirt, so I used maroon, but it's still close enough that you can only just see it. Normally my shirt will end up covering the waistband anyway.

Now the waistband of your skirt should be fitted to the right size!

Yellow sun dress

I finished a yellow flowered sun dress last week. I used McCall's M5094, which I originally bought about four years ago to make view C. I ended up never wearing view C out in public because it was too cleavage-y, so this time I made view D, which has slightly wider straps and a higher neckline.

 

I'm pretty proud of this dress for several reasons. First, it was another project from some of the fabric I picked up for $1/yard, so the dress ended up costing about $3! Second, I was very careful with my stitching and lining up the pattern pieces and ended up with something I know I'll actually wear out in public; this hasn't been the case with a lot of dresses I've attempted before, especially ones made out of broadcloth instead of jersey knit. I have no problem with skirts, but once you add in bust shaping I get stuck. Third, I figured out a solution to problem I've had with a lot of dress patterns! I'm tall and have a large rib cage, but my cup size is not that large. So even though my bust measurements indicates a size larger than my waist measurement corresponds to, I don't actually need that larger size because I don't fill it out correctly. So from now on I'm going with the pattern size closer to my waist size instead of my bust size. To fix the bodice on this dress, I ended up taking tucks by the zipper that are sort of visible in picture below but seemed easier than ripping out the zipper and redoing the back seams. I also ended up with straps that were just the tiniest bit too long, so I added the thin diagonal strips at the back to keep them from falling down. I think the diagonal strips add some interest to the back, and hopefully distract from the tucks by the zipper. 

In this picture the mid-drift looks crooked, but it's just the way I'm standing. I used the timer for these pictures so they aren't the best.

Two new spring skirts

I whipped up two new skirts for spring from some cotton fabric I found on sale for $1/yard. I bought 1.5 yards of each, so both skirts only cost $1.50. Now if only it would warm up so I can wear them!

I made this black one last night. It's just a simple straight skirt with an elastic waist.

Today I made a A-line skirt with this blue Hawaiian fabric. It's more fitted at the waist so I used a short zipper to close it.

If I make enough spring-y clothes the weather will cooperate, right?

Let's Go Stencils

 I saw this really neat design here and it immediately made me think of my brother. The original poster was selling shirts last year like that, but I don't know if he still is. I decided to just adapt his design and stencil it on some thrift store T-shirts I picked up. I kind of feel bad copying other people's design, but I'm using it for gifts for family members, not selling it, so I'm going to call it inspiration rather than theft.

To make the stencils I just printed variations of the design on full page sticker paper, on an ink jet printer (laser jet printers have trouble with the thick paper). Then I cut out the design with an exacto knife, so essentially I end up with a stencil that is also a sticker. This means it can stick directly to the fabric and doesn't move around while painting. However, it also means it's not reusable, so I would only suggest this method for simple designs and only a few prints. I was going a little bit crazy by the time I was cutting out the 6th stencil!

I went to the Downtown Rescue Mission Thrift Store, which is by far my favorite thrift store in Huntsville. They have a huge selection of clothes, and if you pay attention to which tags are discounted you can get stuff for really cheap; the T-shirts I bought ended up averaging to about a dollar each.

The yellow one is my new biking shirt:

I wasn't sure what size shirt my brother wears, and he didn't respond to my text when I asked him, so I asked my mom. Her response wasn't very helpful, "He's a medium, but his shoulders are pretty big, so maybe a large medium, or a large that runs small, but he doesn't like his shirts to be too loose." So I just bought a medium shirt, a medium shirt that looked pretty big, and a large shirt, and made three variations of the design! So hopefully one will fit him, and if one is too big I'll give it to my dad because he bikes too.

The paint got a little messed up on this one, and I later I noticed the design was crooked too, so at least I got all the screw ups out of the way on one shirt! 

For the gray one I made the stencil a lot smaller and put it where the pocket would be if there was a pocket.

For the green shirt I left out the Let's part and just printed the GO bicycle larger.

After the last shirt I decided I really liked the GO design by itself, so I made two small stencils to go on some old pairs of shorts I already had.

Enjoy!