Dyeing to Quilt

was the title of a book I bought many years ago (now) and aptly titled it was. Three years ago, at the Houston Quilt Show, I bought 5 dyeing kits from Pro Chem and Dye.

Last year, before she left for the Northeast, Kathy and I tried our hand at the dyeing process with two of the kits and ended up with this:

Stones and Shells

Flower Garden

but life has a sneaky way of getting in the way of the creative process and the holidays came up quickly. All that now behind us, we thought we'd get to business and shoot a few shots as we went.



Carefully measuring each dye bath


Very carefully pouring into each prepared jar.


Tamping down the fabric to ensure coverage.

Here you can really see the progression from one color to the next.


We left them in their jars overnight and Kathy did the rinsing and washing and this is what we got:

Change of Seasons. Really? What seasonal change would you say this represents?

Afterwards, we dyed the 4th set:


They look much darker on their sides.... Kathy will do the rinse again this morning and see what we end up with This set is called Painted Desert. The "red" is gorgeous!!!!!!! I really hope it doesn't wash out to to a dull orange.

You really don't know what it will end up with. The Flower Garden dyes were brilliant and held very true to the bath. I seem to recall having greater expectations for the shells and stones but they looked very faded. They are nice, don't misunderstand, but the dye baths were more vibrant than the fabric ended up as.

It is ALOT of fun doing this and more fun having a partner to share it all with. Do be prepared to spend a good three hours just mixing and pouring and turning. I have no idea how long it takes to rinse 30 pieces of fabric because Kathy has all that done before I show up and start squealing, "Oohhh!! HOW PRETTY!!!!!!!"