My First Art Quilt and Giveaway Results

Earlier I mentioned that I started dyeing quilting fabrics because I had a specific project in mind. This is my first Art Quilt called "Marina Was a Mermaid"

My girlfriend Jean is a collector of mermaids. For her birthday a few years ago I promised her a mermaid quilt. I thought about making Sun Bonnet Sue mermaids but that just didn't work for me. Two years and 4 ideas later the project finally gelled. I found a picture of a mermaid in a magazine from Carol Mead designs and adapted the picture into a large wall hanging design. I then hand dyed the fabrics for the quilt (excluding the border). I was trying to replicate filtered sunlight through water in the top of the quilt. Her hair and the seaweed are embellished with couched yarn and metallic thread. The machine quilting took about 8 hours. The tail alone took 3 hours. This was an extremely rewarding project and sparked ideas for two more projects. I named the quilt after Jean's daughter. While the real Marina loves to swim she is actually an amazing ice skater.

Oh did I mention my Bernina Sewing machine broke before I could finish the quilting? I used a Singer Futura Sewing/Embroidery machine that I had won at work as a performance incentive. Much to my surprise it did a beautiful job. I entered this quilt in our local quilt show. People either really liked it or thought it did not fall into the category of "quilt".

Thank you to everyone that entered my giveaway. I had a great time meeting all of the people that stopped by. Thanks for your kind words and encouragement.

And now for the winner of the Dye Candy Fabric giveaway....Pat of Bell Creek Quilts. I was stunned when my husband drew her name. You see I won her National Pie Day giveaway in February. Congratulations Pat!

Leftovers

I really enjoy creating these multi step hand dyed fabrics.
I can never wait to see the results. However, the longer the dye sets the more vivid the color.

I created many of these fabrics with leftover dyes. Procion Mx dyes lose their strength over the first few days after they have been mixed with water. Mixed dyes can be refrigerated to extend working time. I like to use up dyes so I don't have to store them. I use "leftovers" to do a lot of experimenting with colors and fabrics.

Here I overdyed gold cotton velvet. The original gold color is in the middle of the photo. I loved the results. The fabrics just glow.

I also experimented with corduroy. I had mixed results. I dyed scraps of beige and gray corduroy jeans that I brought home from a friend's fabric stash sale. The dyes were a bit dull. I'm not sure if it is the texture or if there is some synthetic quality to the fabric. The dye did not penetrate well.

If you wait a few days I will be able to show you what I did with the velvet and corduroy. I used some of the velvet for the postcards I sent out to members of the Around the World in 20 Quilts group. They are halfway around the world right now waiting to be delivered. The velvet and corduroy have been used in my "Brave New World" themed quilt These art quilts will be revealed on March 31st on the Around the World in 20 Quilts blog. Part of the challenge was to use something recycled. I've been getting peeks at some of the recycled materials the other quilters are using. I can't wait to see what they have come up with.

4 more days left on my blog giveaways. Don't miss your chance to win.

New Fabrics and Some Blog Giveaways

I just finished dying these fabrics last week.  They are made with three different dye colors, hot pink, lemon yellow and sky blue in many different strengths.  I will be listing these in my Etsy shop over the next few days.  I love the greens, purples and oranges that result from these dyes.

To celebrate the opening of my new Etsy Store called Dye Candy I am hosting a giveaway here and on my other blog.  Enter here for a change to win a Dye Candy box of your choice.  Visit my other blog for a change to win a piece of my quilt block jewelry.  For a chance to win both there is a third giveaway running simultaneously on Simply Robin's blog.  She has guest bloggers all week and few different giveaways.  I will be a guest blogger on Thursday March 26th.  

I will be drawing for winners on March 31st.  

Good Luck!

About Dye Candy Fabrics

Dye Candy Fabrics - Delicious hand dyed fabrics to satisfy your cravings...

I love color! Creating quality hand dyed quilting fabric has become my passion. I have been dyeing garments for 20 years. I started dyeing quilting fabrics 3 years ago when I had a hard time finding the colors I wanted for my projects.

I specialize in heavily saturated colors and quality fabrics made with Procion Mx dyes. These hand dyed quilting fabrics are made with batik quality cotton with an 80x80 thread count. All fabrics have been washed multiple times and are pre-shrunk. I use a dye fixative in the final rinse that increases washfastness and reduces fading. I have been selling my hand dyed quilt fabrics at shows and on ETSY at my other shop for a little over a year. I started mt Dye Candy Store to have a shop devoted solely to hand dyed products.

When I started dying quilting fabric I auditioned a lot of fabrics. There are many different thread counts available on the market. Typical thread counts for quilting fabric start at 60 and go as high as 80. The higher the thread count the finer the hand of the fabric. Flannels and homespuns are made with thicker threads can have thread counts as low as 30 to 40.

Some fabric dyers like to use Pima cotton. While this fabric takes dye very well and shows beautiful color, it has a higher thread count than quilting cotton (eg:133 x 76. It is not a good fabric for hand applique and it can sometimes be hard to get a sewing machine needle to go through multiple layers. Cotton Sateen is another fabric that is beautiful to dye but can be hard to work with. This fabric, like silk, is a directional. If it is pieced together in more than one direction each piece will take on a different appearance. A typical thread count for this fabric is 80X150.

Welcome to Dye Candy

Welcome to my new blog Dye Candy.  I have big plans for this site.  I will be posting sewing tips and tutorials here in the coming weeks.  I welcome your ideas.  

I would love to post finished pictures of projects that include hand dyed Dye Candy fabrics.  Please send pictures and any story behind your finished work to me.  I will include links to your blog posts about the item or items.  If your item is for sale on Etsy I will add a link to the listing.  Lets face it, Etsy can be a really lonely place to sell and any additional exposure we can give each other could only help. 

I may include links to giveaways on other blogs.  For example Simply Robin has asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog the week of March 22nd. I will be among many guest bloggers that week. There will be prizes here and there.  I will be giving away one or two items from my Etsy stores on her blog and I will be hosting 2 additional giveaways, one here, and on my other blog Greetings From the Shady Grove.  

This is a work in progress and I would really like to hear from you as this blog evolves.