Hand dyeing the Colors of Summer

Well finally took a break from making the crosses and my machine altogether.  I didn't mean to - honest!  But I totally forgot what a big job hand dyeing 6 yards of fabric was.  OMG!  It seem like it took forever. . . it didn't help that I only do it a couple of times a year so I forget exactly what I'm doing and had to research it all over again.  Plus this year, when I started looking at recipes and such . . . well. . .I just wasn't in the mood.  So I decided to wing it!  I mean, like, everyone needs a bit of surprise in their life right?

Anyways, I did know that I needed some reds, some dark and yellow greens and I wanted to try out the turquoise. I really  had started this dyeing session because I wanted to test out the new fabrics I had ordered recently.  I needed some for Quilting by the Lake (which is in three weeks!!!!!) so I ordered a bit extra.  I ordered some from Testfabrics.  Yesterday I ended up dyeing up yardage of Testfabrics 400 and 419.  I like the 419 way better since it dyed better and the hand is so nice.  It, of course, has a higher thread count. 

I'm really happy with yesterday's results.  I scoured (prewashed with a perfume, color free detergent) the fabric even though it was PFD (prepared for dyeing) and all fabric was mercerized.  Because both of those I think I got a deeper richer color.  Besides, the colors I needed, I also saved some quarters for left over dye.  I just poured the dye into the cups - layering each color.  Because I wanted a more uneven texture I only "stirred" the fabrics once in the 6 hours they sat.

By the way, if you wondering how I do my dyeing - I blogged about it last summer so just click here.  Its nice that this year I had all the stuff ready to go - all I had to do was pull it out and play!