Monday, September 8, 2008

Needle in a Haystack

I went to Needle in a Haystack (http://www.needlestack.com/) on Saturday to pick up some threads for embroidery & also some of the wonderful Zweigart linen that I hand dye. I have a love of Caron's Impressions 50/50% silk wool blend threads. They are soft and smoother than plain wool & glide wonderfully when I do bullion stitches but have enough tooth from the wool to stay in place. I picked up several variegated colors:




As you can see I also picked up some other 100% cottons, silk perles, & wool. The organdy ribbon is a new type of thread for me. I saw someone do some beautiful embroidery with it & decided to give it a try.



I dyed the linen last night:


Living in an apartment complex I don't have the room to dye fabric traditionally. So I use Ranger's Adirondack Color Wash Sprays. They were made for the scrapbookers but it is a pigment dye so can be used on fabrics. No soda ash or other chemicals are required however I find it will continue to bleed even after setting with an iron & rinsing; I use Retayne after the preliminary rinsing & let it soak for 20 minutes & that stops most of it.

7 comments:

Karen Newman Fridy said...

Gorgeous, yummy colors...and I hadn't thought about the color spray...have seen it but I sure could have used it this past weekend. I may have to pick some up next time I'm in Michael's!

pcoxdesign said...

Gorgeous fabric and threads!! Can't wait to work in color again!!

Mountain Salt Studio said...

YAY! i'm so glad you have a blog so I can watch what you do - your linen rocks!

Edzellinni aka Linda Edkins Wyatt said...

Your blog looks really good! Can you give me some tips?! I love the green background and the layout of it. I still can't get my blog to look the way I want.

Gisela Towner said...

Lovely colors! congrats on your new blog!

Conni said...

Hey Christine! CJ33 from Flickr, here. Welcome to the blogosphere!

HockeyKitten said...

Thanks everyone for the encouraging words. I am so excited about this blog, thanks for stopping by & check it out.