Everything I want, and nothing I don't: May 2012

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Adventures in dye-ing

Do you ever have some perfectly nice clothes that you just get sick of? Me, too. I have messed around with dyeing clothes in awesome ways, documented it, and now you'll see just how easy it is!
Project 1:
Tye-dyed shirts

These were just boring LOFT shirts that were pink and blue.

See?

The pink one even had some blotchy cooking-related stains, so it was a fabulous candidate. I failed to docuement the blue one and I sincerely apologize.

I used "taupe" liquid RIT dye, mostly because it was on clearance.

I cut about a foot of saran wrap, and would it tightly around sections as seen below, then just to be safe placed a rubber band over each section:

I let it soak about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. The water was hot and I added salt according to package directions. Then I rinsed it in cold water, and removed the ties.

Here it is wet, drying in the sun (which I personally think is important for the color to set) and the finished product! CUUUTE!

The blue one I did with powder dye in navy

And of course, my favorite thing for crafting, a glass of wine.

I wound it up the same, but thought that maybe it's better to not saturate the fabric so much with such a dark color, so I just got the fabric full of dye and pulled it out of the dye to set in the sink, about 15 minutes this time.

Oh, SUPER cute!! I love this one.

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My first try at this was this little dress- it was plain white and pretty see-through.

I used a squirty bottle for this one:

(this was at our old place)

{Stubbins was quite interested}

rinsed it...

Success! Schmoki is very impressed.

I also recently attempted an ombre dip-dye method with mixed results...

Just a plain purply-colored LOFT dress

I folded it in half and sloooowwwwllllly dipped it in the black dye in increments, attempting an ombre effect...

Looks pretty good! And I even dip-dyes a few other things. I hate to be wasteful. The dress is on the top part of the picture^

When will I ever learn to wear gloves???! I never do.

I made the mistake of washing it right away, so I think the effect would have been a little more pronounced if I had let it set in for a while, but I'm happy with this more subtle effect.

See? Anyone can do it. Try it!

I've linked this post up to:

http://too-much-time.com/2012/05/get-schooled-saturday-23.html

and

http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2012/05/show-and-tell-saturday-05-1812.html

and

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/05/21/made-by-you-monday-101/

go visit!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Multi-strand shades of blue scarab necklace

I start my new job Monday, so I am super excited to move beyond my current days filled with Price Is Right, HoverRound commercials, laundry, and Pinterest but kind of bummed I'll have slightly less time to make necklaces like this:

I ordered a bunch of Czech glass beads from

Fivesisters on Etsy, and then supplemented with a quick trip to Michaels cause they were a little smaller than I was expecting (My fault, I have no idea how big a mm is and didnt bother to get a ruler out)

and I started stringing. I used embroidery floss, separated (I use 2 strands for each section), and a beading needle. I can't believe I used to not use a needle. Crazy!