Dyeing

Today my friend Colleen and I dyed some wool and fabric swatches. We dyed with the Indian spice, turmeric, walnuts, tea, and cochineal bugs. It was a long process and it made my apartment smell very interesting, not in a good way.

Our results were very successful.

Bamboo!

I found this swatch of woven bamboo fibers! It's so cool, but this is a very rough swatch... so it would probably not be very comfortable. But you can buy finer woven bamboos that are really comfortable, they feel like cotton.

Reused Plastic

I just read in Vogue about how Marni created necklaces for their past Spring/Summer collection using parts made from recycled plastic bottles.

This reminds me of a project I did my freshmen year at Parsons. The assignment was to make a headpiece that reflected a culture. I made a head mask in the style of Amazonian tribes. Here is a picture.

Coffe Dyeing

A very easy way to dye or fade something is with coffee and tea. Depending on the intensity you want you simple just dilute the coffee or tea with water.Here is an example of coffee dyeing the legs of muslin pants.

Spinning Yarn Video

Here is a video from youtube that can help to teach spinning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gXTWgMeMgI

Spinning Yarn

My friend Colleen is a NYC Designer and she sometimes spins her own yarn. This allows her to use wool roving and other found fibers and threads and customize the yarns that she makes. It is a very difficult process until you get the hang of it. She uses a 2" Hi-Lo Drop Spindle.



She uses wool roving that she buys online from The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn at 347 Bedford Ave. off the L train, you can also buy a drop spindle here
http://theyarntree.com
or
from Morehouse Farm in upstate New York
http://www.MorehouseFarm.com/

Natural Dyeing by Jackie Crook

Rachel recommends this book to help guide you through the steps of natural dyeing.

Here is a link to buy it on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Dyeing-Jackie-Crook/dp/1600592228

Independent Designer Rachel

Rachel is an independent designer and former Parsons the New School for Design student who designs with more sustainable practices in mind. The majority of Rachel's fabrics and trims are either organic or vintage. Rachel works on her pieces in her apartment/studio in the Lower East Side. Rachel graduated from school last spring and has been working on her collection since then.
Rachel uses organic dye methods to achieve unique colors and patternsMany garments are finished with handmade embroideries and painted details. Rachel's mother is an artist and collaborates with her on many projects.

Rachel buys her natural dye materials at The Yarn Tree off Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, Bk
http://theyarntree.com/

In the city Rachels buys some of her organic fabrics at Mood on 37th St. Between 7th and 8th Ave or at C & J Textiles at 230 38th St. 7th floor, but for more variety and selection she buys online at http://www.nearseanaturals.com/

Silk Screen

I've been creating my own patterns on fabric by silk screening them myself. I use water based paints and then heat set the inks with an iron or a hair dryer. The fabrics I have been using are vintage scarfs and scraps from a design studio I used to intern with. This animal pattern I printed on an old scarf I got from the Saturday and Sunday flea market on Avenue A and 11th street. The scarves are only a dollar from an onld man next to a Caribean food cart!

I buy my water based printing ink, Sprectrachem, at New York Central on 11th St. and 3rd Ave. http://www.nycentralart.com/
or
Blick Textile Screen Printing Ink, at Dick Blick on Bond St. between Broadway and Lafayette.
http://www.dickblick.com/

Urban Dyeing

This is a blog of the natural dyeing class from Parsons. They post some of their dyeing techniques using natural materials such as flowers, onion, and cranberries. They have some really interesting stuff! I took this picture from their blog of them dyeing with Marigolds.

http://urbandyeing.blogspot.com/

Mitumba

This is an interesting movie about the lifecycle of some donated clothing. The movie follows a t-shirt that takes an interesting journey and winds up in Africa.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkdfzC7pKqE&feature=player_embedded

Felting

Wet Felting is a way of combining fibers by agitating and matting them together. By using wool and combining it to loosely woven fabrics you can create beautiful and unique patterns. A friend of mine helped me learn by walking me through the process. Here we felted wool to cotton fabric. This was achieved by placing the wool roving on each side of a thin cotton fabric and agitating the fibers so that the wool fibers begin to mat together through the cotton weave, as if 2 hands are grasping each other with fabric between them. You need wool roving, loosely woven fabric, hot water, soap, a screen or mat (a beach mat is used in these pictures), and a synthetic fabric.
(click to enlarge)
First lay down your mat or screen, we used a beach mat. To make sure the fibers did not stick to the texture of the mat we put a plastic trash bag in between. Begin to pull the fibers apart and spread them into the shape or design you desire. When pulling the fibers apart make sure to layer them in different directions. Next place your fabric on top of the wool fibers, and begin to layer more wool on top of the places you've put the first layer of wool. This will sandwich the cotton so that the wool fibers will be able to grab together and create a strong hold. It is important to make sure that there is wool on each side of your fabric, if there is only wool on one side there are no fibers for the wool grasp on to.
(click to enlarge)

Once you have 2 layers of wool sandwiching your layer of fabric in the design desired you can pour your hot water over the wool. You do not need to soak the entire surface, just make sure the fibers are all wet. Then pour soap over top, just enough as if you were hand washing clothing.

Next place the synthetic fiber over your project sandwiching your fabric and wool between the the synthetic fabric and the mat, this way as you agitate the fibers it does not become one giant felt clump. Roll your mat up and being agitate it, as if you were using a rolling pin over dough.

After agitating it for a few minutes, unroll it and agitate it again against the texture of the mat as if you were hand washing a garment against a wash board. You may need to add more hot water and more soap. Make sure you are really working the wool fibers together through the cotton.

After this rinse you fabric off in water and let it dry. If you did not get the design or shape you wanted or some of the fibers aren't sticking to your fabric you can repeat the process to get the your desired results.

(click to enlarge pictures)


I bought my roving wool for my felting project at Morehouse Farm in upstate New York.
http://www.MorehouseFarm.com/