Marbling Fabric

I took a class this summer on marbling fabric.  We made quite a bit of fabric, and I'm going to show you what I did with some of the pieces that matched.

There were 3 fabrics made with turquoise, black, white and red.  The piece that had circles on it reminded me so much of Northwest Native Art that I decided to use those pieces first.  

I didn't want to just willy-nilly cut into the fabric, so I made copies of it on our home copy machine.  I cut the paper apart and started playing on my design board.  Here are some of the ideas and  progress photo for the art piece.

When I decided that it was what I wanted to make, I pulled out fabrics to give me a color progression and started cutting strips and piecing them together.  

Here is another progress photo, with some strips in place.

So far so good.

Striped fabric - 2 more charity quilts

As I was finishing up the charity quilts made with striped fabric, a member of my small quilt group came downstairs with more striped fabric that I could use.  I know that all of us experienced quilters have a huge stash of fabric.  At our ages (somewhere north of retirement age!), we know that we will never be able to use up all the material we have.   So, I took it and made 2 more striped quilts for our charity group.

For these two, I cut the squares on-grain, instead of on the bias, so that I could use as much of the fabric as possible.  Both of these had two striped fabrics in them, and I set them off with pinwheels again, which I just think it so adorable.  Anyway, here they are:

Thank you to Audrey Prothero!

I hope you like them.

More fabric dyeing

I can't remember if its dying or dyeing, with the 'e'.  At any rate, I've done more fabric dyeing and here are the results:

I had left over diluted dye from my previous combinations of fuchsia red, pagoda red, deep orange, deep yellow, amethyst, eggplant, and lemon yellow.  They were all diluted to 1/16th of the original strength in previous dye lots and saved in the refrigerator for about a month.  There were 4 bottles of the mixed colors that looked like 2 very similar shades of orange, a light dusty pink, and a light shade of purple.  This time, I scrunched the pre-treated and wet fabric into shoe box size containers and squirted the dyes on top of the fabric in several combinations.  I pushed the fabric into the liquid and let it sit overnight without stirring the fabric.  There are now 4 different fabrics to have fun with.

The other two pieces were ice dyed.  Each one of those pieces was pre-soaked and dried.  The dry fabric was scrunched into baskets, then covered thinly with ice cubes from our freezer.  I squirted the diluted red dye onto one and then added dye powder in two colors:  bronze and pagoda red.  I let that sit overnight.

In the second basket, I squirted the dilute purple on top of the ice, then added dye powder in two colors:  #150 gray, and midnight blue.

I just love how they all turned out so different and can't wait to use them in a quilt.

Striped fabric and 2 more charity quilts

I got some more striped fabric from a friend in my small quilt group.  And I had some from the charity group stash as well.  So, I made two more striped quilts and added pinwheels in 2 sizes.  I like the modern look of these tops, and hope they find a nice home.

STRIPES AND PINWHEELS

55” x 66”

 Fabric

Striped material – need 72 each 6” squares cut on the bias – I started with 3 yards and cut all on the true bias

White – need 16 each 6-1/2” squares and 32 each 3-3/4 squares – 1 yard

Accent color – need 16 each 6-1/2 squares and 32 each 3-3/4” squares – used scraps to total 1 yard

 Sewing

Make half square triangles out of the white and accent color.

Trim the 6-1/2” ones to 6” square

Trim the 3-3/4” ones to 3-1/4” square

 Sew 4 of each size together to make a pinwheel.  You’ll end up with:

  8 of the large pinwheels (11-1/2” x 11-1/2”)

  16 of the small pinwheels (6” x 6”)

 Lay out the squares on a design board in a pleasing arrangement.  Orient the striped material to give a chevron effect.

Sew the columns together, then sew the rows together, pressing as you go.  You may have to sew in sections rather than in rows.  

Hint:  if you have more or less of the striped material, you can alter the number of the smaller pinwheels to make up the difference.  

Striped fabric - 2 charity quilts

I asked the charity quilt coordinator for some striped fabric and she sent me home with a small pile of them.  They seem to be the perfect fabric to make graphic charity quilts.

Here are two that I turned in recently, both with some hand dyed fabric and some commercial fabric.

Both quilt tops are 65" x 70", and I hope they find a nice home.

Mango Tango - Improv quilt

One of my friends taught a few of us how to make an improv quilt with wedgy stripes and free cut arcs.  It was fun day and a quick little quilt to put together.

I picked the hand dyed fabric that I've been making - orange, purple, and yellow in several shades.  Added to that was a recently purchased black and white print and a fun print that I picked up at the free table for our quilt guild.

After making several of the arc blocks, I trimmed them to 4" square and placed them on my design wall.  Then I put the striped sections next to them and started sewing them together in rows.  Each row had 2 of the arc blocks and 3 of the striped sections.  When they were all sewn together, I trimmed the edges all around.  The border is another hand dyed fabric with touches of eggplant and turquoise.  It was the perfect frame for the bright, vivid pieced section.  To complete the design, I slashed the borders and added narrow pieces of the striped pieces.  

It was quilted in purple thread in narrow straight rows and is faced.

The name "Mango Tango" was suggested.  I think I like it!

Ice Dyeing Fabric

I recently took a class through our local quilt guild that taught me how to ice dye fabric.  It was so much fun!  And not only because of what we learned, but also because it was in person and among friends.  Our teacher was extremely knowledgeable about dying fabric and her insights made it successful for everyone.

Here are the fabrics that I ended up with:

                            Eggplant

                        Gunmetal Gray

    

                    Peach and Bronze

Dyed in the "mud" at the bottom of the pan:

I hope you discover new and fun techniques too!