Snow Dye

When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. After being stuck in the house for the better part of this week due to ice and snow, I've run out of things to sew. I was expecting to get several packages of fabric to work on mouse costumes for the dance studio this week and since the adage "neither rain, nor sleet, nor dead of night" no longer holds true, I had to improvise.

The coat at left is one project that my daughter desperately needed and just in the nick of time. Then I proceeded to make pajamas for everyone in the house, save hubby as he wears the boxers I make him to bed. I know TMI.

Having made everyone pj's, cleaned the house, played Wii, it was time for something new. I just happened to see a blogpost somewhere about snow dying fabric. Well, I have lots of snow!

I was on a kick for several years of dying fabric. It was fun and I've made some interesting garments out of the results. Turns out, I ran out of interest before I ran out of fabric. I still have yards of PFD hemp cotton jersey, french terry, and corduroy. What can I say, it was dying to be colored.














It involves piling snow on top of wet fabric and then squirting dye all over it like a giant snow cone. Warning: Don't taste it no matter how good it looks. Then it's time for patience. Let the snow melt completely (or almost, I ran out of patience). Rinse. Wash. Dry.

It was like Christmas at the end of they day unfolding our masterpiece. It did make a bit of a mess and my hands are still varying shades of blue, yellow, and red. The results are spectacular though. Almost like we painstakingly painted the fabric.

Today we are playing with round II of snow dying. My girls wanted to make t-shirts and I wanted to dye up the last yard or so of hemp corduroy. By this afternoon the snow may be gone but the fabric will be a reminder of the Snow Storm of 2011!

Dinner tonight...tacos!