Butterick 6172, Rust Dyed Top

Time to put this one to bed. It's been a long, interesting ride that started with dyeing an old linen damask tablecloth with rust. Since nearly every moment the past few weeks has been filled with demanding issues all sewing unrelated, this post is a bit over due and I thank you for your patience. You can see me standing in the corner of our new deck, one of two. It is not completed yet, but close and it made a good back drop. Hubby and I have spent nearly every waking hour totally remaking our shade garden and I will regale you with pics when all is complete. In the meantime....

Butterick 6172

Pattern:

This pattern is a three layered tunic with five different options. I went with View D but elminated the "tail". I still maintained the angles however. I did much different with this pattern than instructed and also reworked it after it was completed. I do love it. It's comfy in the heat and casual. I've gleaned a fair amount of nice feedback too!

Fabric:

This is made from a very old linen damask tablecloth that was in a table shape that I no longer needed. It has probably been washed a hundred times and is soft as can be. It had marvelous hemstitching on the edge which I wanted to bring into the design. I used that feature on the back and sleeves. It was a fun challenge to work in the rust patterns and the hemstitching. 

 This top has those three layers and I feared there would be too much bulk so for the middle layer I used a nude stretch mesh from Joanns. It also went on the sleeve edges. If I did it again I would make the mesh part of the sleeve longer and angled, a la Lady Macbeth. The mesh was an easy sew and I like the effect. 

The linen fabric was rust dyed by moi. I have been collecting odd hunks of rust since last fall, knowing I would eventually dye some hunk of linen someday. It was sooo easy to do with most of the work finding the rusty objects. Old Man Sun put in most of the effort along with his friend Mr. Vinegar. This has been washed and dried in hot hot water since dyeing and if you have ever tried to remove rust, you know it keeps it's stain forevah. I will definitely rust dye again and have my pile of objects hidden in the woods waiting for the next foray. For now, there are some other techniques I am anxious to try. I do love how the rusting changed this snow white tablecloth to a lovely soft peach all over. 

Construction:

This is where it got interesting as I completed the tunic, wore it to work, and by the end of the day felt it needed improvement. It was difficult for me to get on. I have narrow shoulders and a small head so don't quite understand this. When I put it on the first time to take pictures the struggle wrinkled up the top like this:

This pattern is designated for woven fabrics, not knits. You can see the sleeves are snug despite a bicep addition of an inch and a half (thanks, menopause) and by the end of my work day they were uncomfortable. I also didn't like the narrowness of the top in back and the flared hem,not my favorite silhouette. 

I did a narrow hem as the pattern instructed and despite my efforts it just seemed to curl up and I didn't like that. So two things had to be fixed: the snugness in the armscye and that curly hem. 

The snug armscye was corrected with the addition of a gusset cut on the bias, pinned then hand basted and finally topstitched on. 

The hem was handled with interfacing and a deeper hem, one inch. Next time I will interface the hem with the same tricot fusible but before I cut out the pattern to hopefully prevent the flare of the bias edges. You can see them on the pattern as well. That being said, I wish I had the length of the original curly hem not this shorter version. On a five foot tall person, that one inch makes a difference. 

Once these two things were done I was much happier and have worn the top several times and  very comfortably. The better back:

You can see I didn't get any struggle wrinkles getting into it this time and it is much more comfortable and flattering. Next time I make this I will not "petite" the pattern and I think that will solve the issues. 

A few more details:

Also regarding the construction:  I did not use the facings included. Instead I did a wide bias binding  on the neckline and I like that finish. 

Conclusion:

This is a great casual design. It took a bit to get there but I would definitely make this again, maybe in a knit combo of prints. I like the layered assymetrical effect but will do a bit longer hem next time but still no tail. I like the tail, I just find that I sew for the "long term" more than I used to and don't want to hand dye and make all the changes I made to this to make it work and have it be last years news in short time. Then again..........I could always just trim that tail off......hmmmmmm.......Bunny

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Rust dyeing? Really?

I love to dye fabrics. It is my way of greeting Spring. After spilling dye on a new floor in our last home, I had to pledge that I never would dye anything in the house again. For the most part I've stuck to that rule and dyeing is an outside sport for me. It's safer and healthier too!

There are so many techniques I want to try and so little time but this rust technique has been in the planning for the past year. I have taken walks in the woods and picked up hunks of small rust and my friends have been on the hunt as well. I've gone to the hardware store and purposely asked for washers, nails and other bits necessary to building. "Do you have any nails that will rust? I need them to rust." Not what the burly hardware guy hears on a regular basis! After my last hike in the woods about a week ago I decided it was finally time to tackle my rustomania. I am pleased with the results.

Look at the lovely apricot shade of this soft thick damask shown above. I placed my rust on the outside edges, attempting to mimic a border print.

This is a simple process of wrapping the rusty parts with damp fabric as desired. Then you wet the fabric further with a fifty fifty solution of water and vinegar. Lightly cover with a plastic bag. The rust process needs oxygen to make it occur so no tight wrapping in plastic. I did this out on our soon to be chucked picnic table and left it in the sun. It stayed there 24 hours. While at work all I could think of was getting home and unwrapping my fabric surprise. Did it work? Will it need more time? It can take anywhere from 1 - 3 days and putting it in the sun accelerates the process. It is imperative to keep it wet with the vinegar water solution, For me, this meant doing it on a weekend. If you go too far with the process it will damage the fabric and the iron in the rust will make the fabric difficult to cut and sew. From what I've seen,  24 hours worked just right for this piece. Once finished you also need to rinse the fabric in a salt water or baking soda solution.

Links to more information on rust dyeing can be found here and here.   A lot of the fun of this process is actually hunting down the rusty parts. I don't quite know what this will become and I am already thinking of overprinting it with something. In the meantime it will hang in my studio and please me every time I walk by. I just love dyeing fabric. What would you make with this piece?..................Bunny

Dye Job!

 

Yesterday, after the gardening chores were complete and I backed out of painting our little barn, I decided to have some fun playing with some dyeing. I had read a couple of techniques recently on Pinterest and wanted to give them a try. Here's my review with a rather unexpected ending.

 The first technique I tried required Sharpie permanent markers, rubbing alcohol, and an eye dropper. The technique came from The Art Girl Jackie on Pinterest.  It seemed easy enough, avoided a lot of mess by using the markers, and gave a permanent finish without any further treatment. 

I used silk dupioni  that had been washed. It was then soaked in a half water half vinegar solution for half an hour as a mordant process. Then the piece was ironed dry. Keep in mind that this was just a fun play project for me and if it worked, well, I was on to something new for the toolbox. 

First you draw some vague designs with your Sharpies. Only prob here was that all I had were fine points. This would have been much more effective with regular Sharpies. Then drops of good ole rubbing alcohol are dropped on the marker scribblings to do their thing. The ink will disperse and blend. It continues from what you see above but again would have been better with the heavier tipped markers. Opinion: metza metza, and bette with the right Sharpie. Not a total waste of time however. I have found when I do these tiny dye jobs that further embellishment can totally change their look so this is no loss here. 

The next technique came from Pea Soup of the Day.  She wanted to do some dyeing with her kids that wouldn't be toxic and this really appealed to me. Seemed simple enough. I pulled out my Wilton paste dyes for this and used her wool dyeing technique on more strips of dupioni. These strips will eventually be smocked and I like the edges to have more definition.

 I followed her directions more or less. I dipped a damp Q tip into the paste and rolled it and dibbed and dabbed it around the damp strips. I liked the effect. Now it was time for the microwave. I layed my strips on some paper towels which was on top of a dinner plate. I didn't want the dinner plate to get all yucky so I wrapped it in plastic wrap. DON'T DO THIS! I have dyed with food coloring many times before and found it to be quite safe and fun. The issue became the plastic wrap. She has you put the textile into the microwave for five minutes and check now and then that it continues to be damp. Towards the end of the five minutes I could smell a slight plastic-y smell but barely. I took the strips out of the micro, sprayed them with water to remoisten and nuked them FIVE MINUTES MORE! Does seem like a too long time, doesn't it? At about 3 minutes into the second nuking the plastic smell became very strong and I figured I needed to remist the the strips. I opened the micro door and in a flash I went down for the count. With the help of some cabinet knobs I pulled myself up and got to the front door where I called my husband. My legs could barely hold me up and I felt horrendous. He came over, smelled the smell, and helped me to fresh air. We nearly called 911 but with fresh air I was slowly coming around. After about twenty minutes I was back to myself with a huge lesson learned, HUGE. Don't nuke anything with saran wrap for ten minutes unless you want ot visit your good friends at the local ER. The plastic wrap was melted INTO the dish which we threw out, of course. DH aired out the house with fans and all doors and windows open and life got back to normal pretty fast.

Here are my results. Not sure it was worth losing my health over!

I changed course and decided to smock some silk velvet. This was a play date with myself and other than the plastic wrap incident something I found highly enjoyable. I've always loved dyeing things and like the intensity of playing with small efforts. It will be interesting to see how these get worked up into something. Hope your efforts aren't quite as exciting as mine....Bunny

Back to Fun

I got most of my client work done, one more thing this morning and then it is home free time! I did manage to get a lot of silk and linen strips pleated and dyed and here are some drying out on the line. There were lots more than you can see here. It looks like those close pins are squeezing the life out of my pieces but in reality  they only touch the part with no pleats Dyeing is just such fun. You never know what is going to come out, at least the crazy way I do it. These all started out as strips of white linen or pale solid silks.  I have some wool I hope to get dyed soon, too.

You can see Spring is just starting  here. Yesterday we had the hummingbirds arrive so the feeders went right up. Hopefully they will establish here. Each years seems to bring a couple more, maybe offspring?

In case you haven't looked since the first time, I added some more types of smocking to the last post. You may want to check it out. 

I need to shop for my slipcover fabric. Wait till you see this horrendous chair, one that is solid and well built but, UGLY. I just never know what DH will bring home when bartering....Bunny

Jewelry and Bags

Today consisted of much catching up type sewing. These smocked jewelry pieces have finally been worked out. I have worked on these off and on for a long time. Once done I would wear one for the day and that made me aware that they needed to be heavier, or needed a better backing, etc. It's been a journey just finding the proper glue but finally, this week, I got that worked out. So now they are finally  wearable without falling apart and hang much better. I will make more in the future for gifts and bartering but until now did not feel they were "good" enough. Now I'm happy.

This is off white dupioni silk that I dyed, smocked and turned into this piece of jewelry. There are metallic threads. It is actually hard by the time I am finished all the processes on it. The chain is a pretty black/copper.

Same applied to this one. It has a leather backing and my signature in gold on the back. Has sort of a Southwest vibe, doesn't it? I hope to dye some more pieces soon to make more jewelry. I have big dyeing plans but will wait till warm weather. I like to do as much as I can outside due to fumes, staining, etc.
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The pink and orange felted wool bag is finished. I would do things differently if I did it again but its usable and will be a cute nod to the color blocking trend. Time to put the wools away!
  I tried to needle felt the pink bow wool into the orange wool and it was just too much. I ended up triple zigzagging all of the edges instead and that worked fine. I tried hand stitching but it just did not look right. A peek at the lining was in yesterday's blog. I don't know if this is right or not but this is how I winged the lining, a bit different. When attaching handles to a lining it helps to work flat.

First I made and edgestitched straps. They were placed equidistant from the center of the handle and taped into position. Pins tighten them even further. See those big yellow heads?

                                                                                         Here you can see ONE side of the lining is sewn together so that the entire lining can be worked on flat. The top edge is folded under and the straps pinned in place. You MUST leave enough room for your edge stitching presser foot to fit between the top edge of the lining and the handles, a healthy half inch here. I then edge stitched the entire top edge of the lining to secure the straps in the right place. The open seam was then sewn shut and the lining finished like any tote bag. 

I think next on the agenda will be that shopping cart seat for the baby shower. Good thing my nieces don't read my blog!...Bunny