Results of Dyeing Day

This is the silk square scarf which I machine stitched then put in the indigo vat. It had just been ironed before the photo but looks as though that had never happened! I will wash it again and press dry when damp.

These are possible covers for books. The two lower ones are calico which I like for book covers - a nice stout fabric. The one on the right was dipped in the indigo vat for 30 seconds to provide a pale blue background rather than stark white. Now I see the results, I prefer the white.

The two calico pieces were crunched into a tight ball and tied up tightly with raffia  before being immersed in indigo.

The cotton piece at the top was pleated and then tied up - not nearly so interesting. I am thinking of machine embroidery on top of this. Perhaps I can do something with it at the Bournville class which starts next Friday. Annette Lucas (she of the outstanding millinery) is running the course on 'Creative Textiles'. It may be that the emphasis is wrong for me but I am working on the assumption that, if I learn how to organise a sketch book like hers, the course will be useful.

These are five skeins of tapestry wool dyed for 2 minutes, 4 minutes etc. They have come out much darker than the lot done at the start of August. In fact everything has come out darker. The Friday dyeing was done with natural indigo and Spectralite whereas the day at the Guild was done with synthetic indigo and sodium dithionite. Why change a winning formula, I say. I will stick to natural indigo + spectralite in future.