More on dyeing and stashing

Posted by Alexandra at Studio Alexandra

Dyeing
For those of you who have been wanting to try it, I'll say "what are you waiting for?" It's fun, it's a good exercise (you have to stir frequently), and it gives your clothes a new lease on life.

Keely wanted to know if I'd dyed the clothes on the stove top or in the microwave. I used the stove top method because I wanted to be able to stir the garments in the dye bath. I wasn't sure whether the microwave method would result in even color and I didn't want to find out the hard way.

Lindsay T wanted to know whether the garments hold the color through washing. I haven't washed these enough yet, obviously, but when I used Rit dyes before I didn't have any problems with the color running or fading. Or rubbing off on my skin, which was my original worry before I tried it.

Fabric stash
Thank you very much for your kind comments about my stash organization. I find an organized sewing area inspiring. Messy is usually stressful to me.

Some of you seem to think that my stash is small. To me it sometimes seems huge. I think I could make a new garment every week and still have fabric left over after a year. That's a definition of a big stash in my book.

I love shopping my stash. It is such a nice feeling when I can come up with an idea, look in the fabric closet, pull out just the right piece, and sew it all up. I don't much care to go online, look for the fabric I have in mind, and then wait a week or two until it gets here. By then, the momentum is gone and I'm off thinking about something else (yes, I know, short attention span). Stash is a necessity for people like me who live far away from any well-stocked fabric store.