My name is Charlotte, sometimes known as Ms Lottie, occasionally as The Slightly Mad Quilt Lady. This is my blog, where you'll find me writing a lot about my quilting and textile arts and a little about my family's life in a small seaside town in New Zealand. Haere mai!

Thursday, September 3, 2015

The green in the GREEN

I promised you I'd show you how I was going to rectify the little problem I had of white and cream quilts for a green colour challenge.


I stitched around the edges of each piece, made up three slightly different dye baths, soaked the pieces in soda ash and then in they went.

And now they are GREEN! 


The silk moth didn't take as much of the black (the dye bath was mostly yellow and black) and is quite yellow.  Interesting, especially as you do get an occasional yellow Puriri Moth as a variation of the species.


This one needed a little tuck in it along the trunk as all the different fabrics shrunk a little bit differently, but that's ok and the beauty of improv.  This moth I expected to be much lighter as the shirt it was made from (my husband's wedding shirt!) was 30% polyester and shouldn't have taken up the dye as well as it did.  The Puriri Moth is also known as the Ghost Moth....


And the furry texture of the moth made of batting delights me!  I've since added another 'ghost' moth to this was some discharge paste.

Now it's time for quilting.  I think a wood grain would suit, seeing as they eat trees.

6 comments:

  1. Very, very cool. Love learning about your process. I may get back into my dye studio sometime around 2019...

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  2. Wow - I love the results of the dying. Not always what you imagine but just so perfect! I took an indigo dying class at the start of summer and was transfixed by the magic that occurs in the dye vat ....

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  3. I love these - I think they have a real ethereal look.

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  4. Your moths are fabulous! Love reading about your processes!

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  5. Love the outcomes of your dye baths.

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