This past winter I have had the opportunity to sew with a great group of children. We've made pillows, wallets, tote and drawstring bags, headbands and an assortment of garlands and holiday decorations.
As I was looking for fabrics for a quilt project, I had the idea that they could create their own fabrics, making their quilts truly unique works of art. I remembered that
Susanna gave me an indigo dye kit (
buy yours here) that I had wanted to experiment with.
I LOVE it when things work out this way and I bought a boat load of crispy cotton muslin.
We rolled, folded, twisted and tied up big squares of fabric. Everyone had four big pieces of rolled up tied up twisted muslin to dye.
The process of the dye bath is a little tricky but we fell into the groove and cheered each other on as the results are truly magical. We spent two classes dying fabric for the quilts. The directions included in the kit are very specific and easy to follow.
The sewing was a breeze.. everyone had 16 squares to work with, 4 squares from each of the 4 pieces of fabric they dyed. They then chose 4 pieces to match and sew together to make new larger squares, piecing and patch working together.
bundling, tying, twisting muslin
squeezing fabric in dye bath
unwrapping first batch of indigo
hanging to dry
sewing squares of dyed indigo
We are still working on the quilts, we've got batting and backs to tackle next.
I couldn't wait any longer to share the process so far, I am so proud of these kids.
YAY INDIGO! and thank you Susanna for the kit!