Fabric Rust Dyeing

Rust dyeing fabric is fun and easy. Virtually no mess and no toxic chemicals. The results are rich, deep golds and browns in unusual patterns. You can try to plan your design, but the results will totally surprise you.

The most obvious items you will need are rusty things. It is surprisingly hard to find rusted items nowadays. Hopefully you have a Dad who collected all kinds of things over his lifetime. Going through Dad's bevy of old stuff helped me. Another good thing is steel wool, so have that on hand too.

Next get a bucket and put in a 50:50 ratio of water and white vinegar. Gather some 100% cotton fabric that has been washed and dried. Get a plastic bag. Put some plastic down on your work surface. Now you are ready to rust dye.

Dip your fabric into the vinegar solution and get it good and wet. Squeeze out the excess water. Lay the fabric flat over your plastic and arrange your rusty stuff and bits of steel wool on the fabric. Loosely roll up the fabric and place in the plastic bag. You can do as many pieces as you want providing you have plenty of rusty things. All of the fabric can be put into the same bag. Be sure to dump any of that "rust dust" that might have fallen off your items onto your fabric too.

Put your plastic bag in a spot that is out of the way and someplace that won't be damaged if any rusty water should leak out of the bag. You don't want to set the bag on your counter or in your sink. Find a good spot out in the garage. Rust spots look good in the garage. Makes it look like you really work on your car or something.

Leave the fabric wrapped for at least 24 hours. The longer you leave it the darker the colors will be. I left my fabric for 4 days. If you leave your fabric for too long, then you might get holes....but then that could be something that you are going for. When your fabric has "cured" get your bucket or a tub and fill it with 4 gallons of warm water and 1/4 cup of table salt. Swish the fabric in the solution really well to stop the rusting. Then rinse your fabric several times. I finished by washing my fabric in the washing machine and drying it in the dryer.

Now how cool is that! I love the designs and color variations that came out on the fabric.

Sharpie Tie Dyeing

Although tie dyeing with Sharpie markers is new to me, it seems to have been around for a long time. So long in fact that there are tons of tutorials about how to do it....just google Sharpie tie dye. Most of the information stems around tie dyeing clothing though and I wanted to try it on plain fabric. I used white cotton sateen fabric and played around with different colors and designs to see what would happen.

The only supplies you need are Sharpie markers and rubbing alcohol. I tried both 70% and 91% and there was no difference. I put the rubbing alcohol into a spray bottle. After coloring the fabric with the markers, I sprayed the rubbing alcohol pretty heavily over the whole piece then left it to air dry.

I put another piece of white fabric under the piece I was working on to see what would happen. This fabric turned out really great. The colors are more pastel with less defined lines.

I found that different colors reacted differently to the alcohol. Some bled more than others. The final step is to heat set the color with an iron. Place a cloth over your dyed piece and press. Since this fabric will be used in art quilts, I don't need to worry about any of the colors fading from washing.

This is the piece that was underneath. I definitely like the fabric pieces that were underneath better than the original ones.

Paintstik Fun With Fabric

This is a fun way to change the look of fabric and add a touch of pizzazz. You can use this technique on colored fabric, white or black fabric and even a fabric that has a light print. Here is what you will need:

fabric pieces (12 inches x 8 inches works well) - they can be cotton, linen, silk or sheer;
paintstiks
texture rubbing plates
a sticky mat

Place the piece of fabric on the sticky mat. Position a texture rubbing plate under the fabric. Color the fabric with the paintstik and watch the design appear. Use one color or more than one color and try overlapping the colors or applying light pressure and heavy pressure. You can also use different textures on one piece of fabric. There are no rules here. When you have completed painting your fabric allow it to dry for 2 to 3 days. Then heat set the paint with a dry iron. Make sure and place a pressing cloth over the fabric before pressing. You can also heat set the paint by placing the fabric in the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes. Have fun!

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Dying Organza Silk

I haven't dropped off of the face of the planet, although since my last post was so long ago one might think that. I blame it on the speed of time...it just goes faster and faster! I did manage to find some time to take a fun dying class.

These two pieces were created by simply dipping the silk organza into a soda ash solution and then putting them into ziplock bags and adding a little bit of dye. I sealed the ziplocks and then left them for a couple of days before rinsing.

This one was dipped into soda ash then softly tucked into a container. Small drops of different dyes were added in different places. The silk was then dried on a drying rack.

On this piece of silk (previously wetted in the soda ash) I held one corner while drawing my other hand down the length to pleat it. Then the silk was placed into a container and dye was dropped on the cloth.

This soda ash dampened piece was accordion folded, placed in a container and dye dropped on.

This cloth was screen printed. The cloth was ironed to a piece of freezer paper and then pinned to a rubber mat. The dye was mixed with soda ash and printing paste and then pulled over a screen. The screen was moved around the cloth and different dyes were squeegeed through.

To create these a white cotton cloth was pinned onto a rubber mat and then silk organza was pinned on top of that. I used a sponge and an edge of a scraper to apply different dyes that had soda ash and printing paste mixed in.

This silk organza was made with another screen and dyes.

All of the pieces were hung on drying racks and then rinsed out in cold water. Following the cold water rinse they were put into a pot of water that was brought to boiling. Then the pot was drained and the cloth pieces were put into the washer on a rinse and spin cycle. Finally when I pulled them from the washer I ironed them to do the final set of color. At this point they should all be color fast. This process was so much fun that I want to explore using dyes more. The organzas all came out so lovely. The colors and designs are original and unique. I will be using these in my art quilts.

Shibori Fabric Painting

Shibori is a term encompassing various Japanese techniques for dying fabric. I recently read an article about adapting this technique and painting the fabric instead of dying and wanted to try it. 

I dug a can out of the recycling and made a mental note to look for a larger can and save it for the future. Took some plain ole cotton fabric that had been prewashed and cut a rectangle. I laid the can on the fabric and rolled the rectangle around the can.

Since the fabric was larger than the can it got kind of tricky trying to hold the fabric on the can. I used some tape to secure the starting edge of the fabric to the can. I double-folded the tape and put it under the fabric so I wouldn't have an unpainted spot.

Then I sort of gathered the fabric around the can. I used a couple more pieces of double-folded tape to hold it in place.

The next step was wrapping string around the can to hold the fabric in place. I really needed a couple more hands for this!

Before you start wrapping the string you need a length of string running from the bottom of the can to the top. This is so you can tie off the end of the string when you get to the bottom of the can...if that makes sense!

Keep wrapping the string progressing down the can and bunching the fabric as you go.

See?? This is why you needed the beginning of the string at the bottom of the can. You can tie the ends of the string together in a knot.

The fabric is all bunched up between the string completely covering the can.

I used a variety of different fabric paints that I had on hand.

I slightly dampened the fabric with a spray bottle of water.

Then I applied the paint with a brush.

I put different colors all along the can making sure to cover the fabric completely.

Tada! The finished piece of fabric once I cut the string and took it off of the can.

Here's another piece that I did using blues and greens. I am always looking for that piece of fabric with just the right colors for my art quilts. This technique is fast and easy and allows me to create that perfect color of fabric that I can never seem to find in the stores!