Experiments

We've been doing all sorts of experiments at home lately...
What happens when 8y old stomps on 10y old's hand? Lots of tears but apparently nothing worse - phew...
Will a rescued wild baby rabbit survive in the cage? So far that is a yes:

Can 8y old's vinegar and baking soda rocket take off with baking powder? Yes, but it shoots higher when you use baking soda:

I am still working on the D4P, but after reading this post by LuAnn Kessi, I just had to experiment with microwave dyeing. Lovely LuAnn gave me some more tips per email which made it very easy: You have your fabric ready (pre-washed and wet), put approx. 1 fat quarter into a plastic container (I used ice cream containers), squirt on your dye (I used Procion MX Dye), just cover with soda ash (get Sodium Carbonate Hydrogen from the local pool shop as Balance Pak 100 - mix 1/3 cup with hot water), cover with clingfilm (poke some holes into it) and microwave on full power for 3 min. Watch your fingers when you take it out, it's hot! Rinse and then soak in very cold water for 30 min. Wash on hot. LuAnn says as it has been set in the microwave, your dye won't run later.

Here are my results:

I had wanted to go for greens, but as I had mixed my blue powder with less water than the yellow (and the red), it dominated.

Resist dyeing on some white-on-white

Less contrast from the back and therefore easier to use

 

Another white-on-white

Next day some more colours after I mixed my yellow to a stronger and then even stronger concentration

I had tried over-dyeing some of my blues, it looked good until I rinsed it - maybe the soda ash wasn't good any more or did I even forget to use it?!

A fq rainbow of pastels :-) I still want to learn how to make them more vibrant, but I was very pleased with the overall result

The resist pieces and some of the scraps I dyed also

I found that I got stronger colours by using 1 tsp of dye to 100ml of water in the blue, and for yellow I even ended up with 2 tsp to 150ml. The red I am using up must have been at 1 tsp to 150ml. I will repeat the experiment and add more powder. As this was so quick and easy and got just as nice results as when I followed this tutorial, I might stick to this method being an instant gratification type person!

This is what my blues and greens turned into later on yesterday afternoon, my first draft for the AQC Challenge 'Free':

 

Size 48x49" marked out on my design wall - it's meant to be 49" square but my wall is not that wide

Auditioning fabrics

Adding some other bits to see if this could work

Lots of squares needing to be sewn together.

I'll keep you posted...

This is my 100th post - whoop-whoop! It's a scorcher of a day outside, after getting lunch for the kids I might just have to hide in my sewing room until the sun is bearable again - I love the hot weather though the sun doesn't love me, but any excuse will do lol.

Happy Sewing!