Starting projects with ice dyed fabric

I’m cleaning, finishing, starting, and stopping. Attempting to start some new projects and finish off the old. But also, working on some gifts for the holidays. Trying to get set up on several techniques that I’m interested in.

This means finishing the projects from the texture class by Bethanne Nemesh. Setting up the looms to be ready to go, so the projects are warped. With the weaving projects, I’m still at the stage of the game where I’m using patterns and the ideas haven’t sunk into my head.

I’m planning more dye experimentation next week, moving up to larger pieces. My original goal was to get an ice dyed piece that was suitable for mandala quilting. But this (in my mind at least) requires some white space left on the fabric. Lighter colors are also important - the lighter areas show the puff and depression of quilting when you are using low contrast thread. One way to overcome this is to use high contrast thread on areas with more dye. I’d also like to start working with the fabrics that I’ve dyed over the past weeks. But to do this, I want to get several projects that I’ve started to the point where I can move them out of project boxes and onto hangers.

So the plan: work on some small projects with the hand dyed fabric. I’ve also got a sufficient amount of hand dyed yellow fabric to start work on a flower inspired project that I planned out in August.

I also bought some cyanotype. I was fascinated by the screen prints in a Quilting Arts magazine, but it seemed that the effort required would demand multiple prints. Using old printer overhead sheets with cyanotype on fabric would allow me to achieve a similar effect. Hoping that I can use this to add text to my projects.