Ice Dyeing

I’ve had so many fun posts to share recently that one from my trip to Paducah got pushed to the bottom of the pile. When I discovered this I just knew it had to be this week’s topic!

I’ve tried dyeing fabric and would usually rather buy from those who are good at it. Never-the-less, Laura and I both decided to sign up for Cindy Lohbeck’s class on Ice Dyeing during Quilt Week in April – and it was a BLAST! Here’s one of my favorites from the 14 fat quarters I went home with:

Cindy is a great teacher and has developed her own techniques that are virtually no fail. She was featured in the most recent issue of American Quilter Magazine and I would recommend her classes to everyone.

We purchased a kit for the class which included her specially prepared for dyeing fabric, the dyes and almost everything else we needed: We did a bit of pre-treating of the fabric, twisted and turned it in a number of different ways, and then placed it in Cindy’s very clever “sling” type holder.

She showed us how to mix the dyes –

how to layer the ice and then how to apply the dye to get the best effects:

We had the choice of a number of different color palettes. Laura chose the dark one above and I chose the lighter.

Once the ice melted, the fabric looked really yummy!

We took our bins home to do the rinsing, It was a bit tedious,

but the unveiling of each piece made it so worthwhile. Here are two more of my favorites:

Once they were rinsed and dried we laid them all out on the deck and took turns picking so we each got a good mix of lights and darks.

I highly recommend Cindy. To learn more about her classes, fabrics, and “Dye It Yourself” kits go to: http://www.handsonhanddyes.com/about-us.htm