Dye, Dye, My Darling... in which I try iDye and FAIL HORRIBLY.

Today was possibly the most disappointing day I have ever had in my years as a dressmaker. My dress didn't even get to be stitched together *sob*.

Last week I bought these glorious fabrics in the bargain bin at my local fabric shop. When you buy from the baskets, there's usually one piece and you'll never see that fabric again. You want it, you'd better be prepared to impulse buy, and fight a tiny Asian grandmother to get it.

Fabulous, right? The melon one, you'll be glad to know, is safe. I cut out my dress parts from it, bought some garish yellow trims, and you should be seeing the finished article in a couple of weeks. The leopard one however did not fare so well. I decided that I would make a bright yellow leopard print version of my usual sarong dress pattern, with black trims, black petal bust, and black lining to the draped overskirt. I could see it in my mind; this thing was going to be my new favourite outfit in the world, to be debuted at next week's Bedlam Breakout psychobilly weekender. I wasn't sure of the fibre content, so I used a Dylon hand dye in sunflower yellow. Trusty old Dylon eh? Nope.

It turned out a colour which I will politely refer to as pale lemon, but would prefer to (rather impolitely) refer to as I-boiled-this-in-a-bucket-of-my-own-piss yellow. Although annoyed at having spent £3.10 to turn my fabric such an insipid shade, I remained upbeat as we could now determine that the fabric had a high synthetic content and would need to be dyed with something suitable for polyester and nylon.

Picture by Dixie DIY

This is what I found. I think it's the only product available on the UK market for home dyeing synthetics, but it looked pretty good anyway. I did some research online as to what other bloggers' colour results had been for each yellow shade, and picked out the yellow iDye Poly and iDye for natural fabrics in 'Golden Yellow', as directed by the packaging in order to colour a cotton-synthetic blend fabric.

The instructions stated that the iDye Poly, poly colour intensifier, and iDye natural should be chucked into a pot of hot water together to dissolve, the fabric added and brought to the boil, and a US cup of salt added.

This is what it was supposed to look like. Via Live the Fancy Life

Problem 1. I didn't own a pot large enough to fit my whole 2.5m of fabric into. I decided to cut out all the parts of my dress, adding an extra 1/4" to each seam allowance to account for any shrinkage, fraying or wonkiness which may occur. The fabric had already been dyed and washed once so shrinking or twisting wasn't likely, but pre-cutting your pieces before dyeing is a risky strategy. It all fit into my largest pot, so I began the dyeing process.

Problem 2. The instructions said that in order for the dye to bond to the polyester fibres, I needed to keep the mixture at a 'rolling boil' for 30-60 minutes. My pot never came to the boil - it was always on the edge of simmering. This was probably because I was using a stoneware crock pot, not a metal pan, but I'm a woman living alone - I don't own a 12 litre stew vat! Frankly, the fabric looked alarmingly orange as soon as I put it into the dye bath. I thought it would rinse out to yellow, and persevered. Because the mixture never boiled, I left it in just over an hour.

Oranges and lemons... balls.

I rinsed. ORANGE. Not even orangey-yellow, ORANGE. These pictures don't even show the full horror of just how exceedingly jaffa-hued it was. I put it through a normal wash cycle at 40C with an extra rinse. Oompa Loompa. I put it through a 60C intensive wash cycle. Colour of a pornstar's palms.

I decided it was time for desperate measures. I filled the sink with warm water and added 60ml (1/4cup) of household bleach, followed by the damp fabric pieces. Nothing. I doubled the bleach and agitated it for ten minutes... the water turned yellow but the fabric looked unchanged. I ended up with 300ml of bleach in the sink, and a mild chemical burn on my hands (no, I don't own rubber gloves. If I did they'd no doubt be orange by now). The fabric faded by a couple of shades, so I chucked it into the washing machine, thinking the residual bleach coupled with some heat and agitation would loosen the dye from the fibres. I whacked the temperature up to 90C.

Who ya gonna call?

Then this happened. So, yeah, turns out thick bleach foams in hot water. At least I can be sure that my washing machine's innards are utterly germ-free now.

Finally, I took the fabric out of the washer. It was still sodding orange, but it had definitely become lighter, and would probably be just about acceptable when it dried. Then, ULTIMATE HORROR!

Yep... the print which had survived four washes, two dyeing attempts, being just under boiling temperature for over an hour, and being soaked in a sink of toilet-strength bleach for half an hour, had given up the ghost and come off in the final wash, turning a vile shade of rusty brown. I was utterly dejected, and my dreams of the perfect dress went up in a puff of smoke. Just as this fabric will be doing when I burn it in the garden tomorrow and dance around nude, wailing at passers-by and smearing myself with its (no doubt bright orange) ashes.

By the way, the fabric, multiple dyes, salt, and copious amounts of electricity used cost me about £20. Bargain bin fabric? I think not.

Fucksticks.

New Fabrics - Bambi and Retro Kitchen

I had a good rummage in the fabric bins at my usual shop in town today, looking for Hawaiian prints but found these instead!


Yay, retro kitchen gubbins! There is only a bit of this fabric, enough to make an amazing apron though!


Cute Bambi fabric! I want to make a skirt with this, although usually I only wear pencil skirts or circle skirts. It's too thin for a pencil skirt, but there isn't enough for a circle skirt. I may have to cut wide strips, stitch them together at the ends and do it as a border round the bottom of a full skirt, with a plain colour at the top.

Tiki Dress - Progress

Well, almost progress, especially considering this was supposed to be my Summer dress project and Summer is almost over.

I decided I didn't really want to draft my own pattern for this, as it contains techniques such as shirring and boning which I've not used before. Finally I had the funds and have bought this gorgeous sarong dress pattern from Scissorhappy after seeing it mentioned in a post on Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing. Hopefully it will arrive soon from the US and I can get on with making my dresses!


The first one will be in this tiki fabric, and I'll probably just use the pattern as is for it. I'll make a wearable muslin first I think, probably in plain black as I don't actually own a black dress! (Apart from a fully sequinned one I made for halloween a few years back, which cuts my underarms to shreds.) This way I can use cheap fabric and it won't show up badly if I have to rip and redo seams or tweak the pattern as I go.


The second one I want to make is in this retro cocktail fabric, and I think I'm going to make it full skirted rather than a sarong. I could even make it a sarong with a full overskirt so I can change the look by adding the overskirt and a petticoat, I think I have enough of the fabric.


I'd like to make one of the dresses with a winged bust like this beauty from WhirlingTurban, but that's definitely something to try only after I've made the pattern up in the version without alterations and gotten used to working with it.

Fabric Love

I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of two lots of fabric, from which I plan to make fabulous dresses! First, this fabric by Michael Miller, 'Kitschy Cocktails'. I plan to make a circle dress and matching bolero, and probably some cocktails too from the recipes that are printed on it! (Click it so you don't have to squint, dear).


Next, this gorgeous print - it's by Alexander Henry and comes in turquoise, black or white - I'm not sure of the name as I have seen it labelled with at least four different ones. With this I plan to make a Hawaiian dress with a waterfall skirt.


I'm obsessed with making these dresses better than anything I've done before, and plan to employ boning and to teach myself how to make a winged bust! Maybe shirring, too... ambitious. This droolworthy dress is from the emporium of unattainable dress perfection that is WhirlingTurban.


Whilst rooting in the bargain bins at my local fabric shop I came across this, I'd had my eye on it on etsy so I snapped it up! 'Puppies and Kittens/Ruthe's Party' from Michael Miller - the fabric is divided into panels which I suppose are meant to be used for quiltmaking, it's ridiculously twee. I'm rather worried for the mouse on top of the jelly, I do hope he's made from icing and not some poor little cartoon soul about to be devoured by slavering kittens.


Look at this cute child's skirt made from it, by Polkadotjes on Flickr. How I wish it would fit me. I was thinking of adding panels of the fabric as a border round the bottom of a black or red circle skirt, what do we think? Or maybe kitsch pillows, I have six full panels and two which are usable but mummy cat has been cut off. (WHY cut through the picture when there are cutting lines marked on the fabric? I know it was a scrap from the bargain bin but it's annoying me!)


I love this fabric so much I have taken it to bed with me. It reminds me of the last supper, but y'know, with less of an air of solemn biblical foreboding (except maybe for the poor mouse).

Sewing Plans - 50s Blouse

A while back I got this printed cotton from the bargain bins at my usual fabric shop. It's a Robert Kaufman fabric, they make lots of retro inspired prints and I loved this atomic/tiki style. Unfortunately it was a one-off scrap which is only two metres long and has a one-way print, so not enough to make a dress from.


Instead I'm going to make a blouse - something lacking in my wardrobe and which I need to go with jeans and pencil skirts this Summer.


I love the winged collars and turn-back cuffs of these 1950s designs, and plan on making my design similar. Both of these pics are from Etsy, can't remember where.


If you fancy a cute retro blouse but don't want to make it yourself, Vivien of Holloway have a rather dashing design, as modelled here by the lovely Fleur De Guerre.


I shall be on the lookout for some cute (and cheap) vintage buttons too.

Free Atomic Fabric and Paper Samples!

After seeing a post over at Atomic Tea Party about The Sanderson Company's reissue of several amazing 1950s atomic patterns, I decided to take advantage of their sample service and order some swatches. You can order up to four at a time, the samples and postage are free, and you can of course also sneakily order another four in your boyfriend's name. Here they are!


I want every single one of the reissued fabrics and wallpapers, they're amazing. Unfortunately Sanderson don't sell direct, only through very expensive department stores, where the fabric costs around £36/metre ($50/yard).

However, the sample pieces of fabric are 7.5" square - stitch four together, add a cotton backing and some kitsch pompom trim, and amazing atomic cushions will be yours! They're certainly going to be mine once my second batch of samples arrives and I have finished making them.

Here are the company's example rooms with atomic furniture and wallcoverings. Aren't they fabulous? I wish this was my house! (pictures (c) Sanderson).





This one has a Cmielow coffee pot like mine in the picture!