Not much happened this weekend, so no fun picture from my life to show you (I bet a lot of you are happy about that ).  That means we can pretty much just move on to this weeks challenge.

Just one little reminder.  Did you see the sale & giveaway post from earlier this morning?  You should go check it out (you could get up to 60% off!).

So here we are, already down to 3 crafters.  I can’t believe the season is almost over!  Now that we’re down to 3 it means that from now on out each person eliminated will receive a fantastic prize pack from our awesome sponsors. Thank you sponsors!!

And here are the projects for this weeks theme…RIT Dye. 

Craft #1 -Hand Dyed and Screen Printed Quilt - Catherine @ CathGrace

I thickened my dyes with sodium alginate so that I could put a brown patterned base on all my quarters, and smear the other 12 dyes onto my fabric. There is an Asian doll theme to all of my screen prints, to match my Daughter’s room. The back of the quilt is a commercial cotton that I found in the same colors as my dyed fabrics. The whole quilt is randomly machine quilted with yellow thread on top, and fuchsia thread on the bottom. The quilt binding is more hand dyed fabric, pieced together in patches, and then the whole quilt was thrown in the washer and dryer to fluff it up. This quilt took FOREVER to finish, it was a several day process to dye and rinse the fabric, before we even talk about the piecing and the quilting (I’m not going to lie, I only finished it the day it was due.) But it was a totally satisfying project because I now have something really substantial that will be toted around all summer for picnics and reading on the grass, and the top is TOTALLY my own printed fabric!!!

I hope you like it too, as I would love your vote!!!!

Craft #2 -Dyed Ruffle Ombre Tablecloth– Camille @ Sugar Baby Boutique

I have never ever attempted dying fabric. The thought just stressed me out. I have to say it was really fun. I love that this competition has challenged me to go outside my normal “craft” areas. I love it. I also love how this tablecloth turned out. I used the same dye for the darker and lighter ruffle but varied the time it spent in the dye bath. Now that I got my first time using dye out of the way I have added a couple more projects on my list that include more RIT dye!

This tablecloth is just asking to be used at a party. I can picture the cutest  dessert table on top. Or maybe stacked with presents, or a drink station?? So, so fun. I hope you love it as much as I do!

Craft #3 – Batiked Drawstring Bag - Kim @ Maiden D’Shade

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, I made it to the top three! Thank you so much for the love and support and votes along the way! I am humbled. I seriously didn’t think I’d make it this far, and because of that, I didn’t really have a plan for Rit Dye week. I’ve never used it before so this was a huge challenge for me. I actually tried several different things, not knowing for sure how each would turn out. In the end, this one is my favorite:

 

I knew I wanted to try batiking. The medium I decided would work the best as a dye resist is Elmer’s blue gel school glue (surprisingly hard to find!). I know a certain young lady who loves birds so she’s who I designed it for. I cut the images out of vinyl to use as my stencil. Did you know it is much easier to weed the image out instead of weeding the usual latent image? Anyway, I think that outdoor vinyl would have adhered better to the fabric, but I didn’t have any to spare.

Once I got the vinyl on the bag, making sure the edge of the image was firmly pressed against the fabric, I used the blue gel school glue as dye resist and “painted” the glue on. I applied several coats, letting each coat dry at least 15 minutes before adding the next. Around 15 minutes or so after the last coat, I carefully peeled the vinyl away and waited for the glue to dry. Once the glue had completely dried, it was time for the cold dye bath.

• To make the cold dye bath (I didn’t really follow any directions, I just took a chance and winged it.) I put 3 gallons of cold water into a plastic storage bin. I dissolved one box of powder Rit dye in 2 cups of hot water. I then added the dissolved dye into the cold water and stirred well.

I then submerged the drawstring bag completely under the mixture. I held it there a few minutes, then I lifted it up to make sure the dye was being evenly distributed. Then I submerged it again, keeping it under for 5 more minutes. I raised it again and decided I liked the coloring, keeping in mind that once washed, it would lighten some. So I wringed out the extra liquid, and set it on top of the plastic bins lid. I noticed some of the glue was wet and had started to take on some dye. Probably from the wringing. So I wiped all the areas that I painted with the glue with a paper towel, and carefully wiped the glue away. And because I’m super impatient (and on a deadline), I put the bag on my dryer rack for the inside of the dryer, set the temp to delicate and let it dry in the dryer for 90 minutes. Once it was dry, I ran it through the hand wash cycle on my washer and then dried it in the dryer on low heat again.

I really enjoyed trying out Rit dye. I’m going to have to do more experimenting with it soon. Thank you so much for voting