I've wanted to try dyeing fabric for so long. I finally bought myself a Procion Dyes starter kit from Fairy Fabrics and it arrived super fast, so I jumped in to playing with it tonight when my sweet boy went to bed.

I started with the Indigo Onion tutorial for fancy swirls. It really appealed to me because it reminds me of the designs I would make on coffees and dessert plates when I managed a cafe in another life, before children.
I used to absolutely love playing with the foam on the top of the coffees, coming up with new designs, and I remember wishing I could capture that art form in something permanent somehow. I also remember similar thoughts while pouring out leftovers of brightly coloured milk shakes and watching the colours mingle together, only to disappear down the drain.

So I'm super excited at having a more permanent means to playing with those techniques now.

At first I was hesitant with the whole shaving cream idea in the Indigo Onion tutorial, but it worked really well. I love the way the swirls turned out. I'll definitely try that way again.
I also tried a few little hearts but that turned out a bit, errr, ordinary, haha.



After I'd removed the fabric off the dye above I mixed what remained all together on the tray and added some more colours and ended up with this...



I used it to dye sherpa and it didn't turn out anything like that, haha. It is a nice big messy mix of red and orange, without the defined lines.
Still, it's lovely and bright and will make nice bum wipes.

I wanted to try one last thing so decided to try Low Immersion Dyeing - the technique I thought I would like the least. It was my favourite!
This is what is resting in the bucket now, soaking up the colours. I hope it turns out that vibrant after it's been rinsed. :) Now I'm kicking myself that I just used bamboo scraps to try this way of dyeing, it turned out beautiful and I know I'm going to want to sew with it ASAP! It's destined for bum wipes, but I'll be doing this technique again tomorrow on some lovely bigger pieces of fabric, ready for nappy inners and mama pads.



I love looking down and seeing my hands like this.
I love the colours staining my fingers, reminding me of my creativity for days.


More pics ASAP, of the finished products as soon as the fabric is dried.