So exciting!

Well, I’ve finally gone and done it. I decided to open up an etsy shop and sell dyed fabrics/bags/shirts. I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer!

http://dyeabolical.etsy.com

See the lovely header? I did it all by myself (I am soooo proud!), and it was quite a challenge, as paint shop pro doesn’t play well with vista on my computer, and kept crashing when I wanted to add the text. I really need to get a different program…. I used one of my favorite shirts for the background.

Of course, it is not populated. I haven’t even had a chance to get out and dye yet. I will definitely post when it comes up and show you some of the lovelies I’m working on for it. Hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks, I’ll have some wonderful goodies to show you all… I’m currently in the process of sewing up a slew of fabric shopping bags for the first dye round. Also bought a bunch of 60″ white kona cotton to dye as yardage and sell.

I also joined the Mad Scientist team on etsy, where we make items with a science twist for challenges, etc. This is going to be fun!

Sigh, dreaming of tie-dye, colorways, and Vista…

The weather has been unusually warm. So much so that I actually thought about going out into the garage and doing some LWI dying – I owe R&M a dyed chair cover to make their couch; my winter wardrobe doesn’t have enough color in it to keep me sane over the winter months… The problem is that I’m not prepared to bring dye powders into the house. There is too much chance of them getting onto other things, like carpeting, my fabric collection, or my grout in my tile floor.

I’m ready to branch out a bit on my dye adventures for myself and go to new color combinations….  I have found a few websites, more intended toward the web developer, that have led my mind to try a few new options:  Color Combos, and the Color Scheme Generator are a couple that are great fun…  This one inspired me to try raspberry and orange together for a new shirt…

Even though the weather gods had blessed us with warmth in January, my mind was distracted. S agreed to let me get a new computer, as mine has had sluggish performance issues in the past. His parents were looking to get something new, and quite frankly I didn’t see them managing to figure out windows vista too easily. So, since I needed a less sluggish computer anyway, we’re opting to reformat my existing machine for his folks. I found a new machine on Sunday, picked it up last Monday, and have been fighting the reinstallation of my software ever since.

The glitter glue princess appreciates that she can have her own screen instead of having to share, and she has taken to it like a fish to water. I’m just having to bear through little burps and hiccups that come with trying to reinstall everything we need back on the machine.

This whole vista compatibility thing is driving me nuts too – I can’t run my old Nero software, can’t run a few of glitter glue princess’s old games (that I must admit to playing more than her now – shhhh!).  At least, for now my embroidery software and pattern drafting programs still work.  Those are the ones that matter most….

Then…. there is the black screen of death, as I’m now calling it.  I’m in the midst of discussions with HP and microsoft on how to handle a little problem that Vista is having.  When my computer goes to “sleep”, it actually goes into a coma and won’t come out till I unplug it.  I get no reaction at all from restarting the computer.  This has monopolized the majority of my time of late.

So, if you are wondering why I’m not around, give a little pause and send good thoughts my way while I try to hold my temper with this transition….

Arrgh, or how to dress like a pirate…

So, now for the long awaited pirate garb. This has monopolized my sewing time for the last three weeks and I’m just now coming up for air!

 

Here is my pirate outfit – pardon the dazed look and frazzled hair, it was a long day at work before this was shot:

The chemise is hand drafted and made of pima cotton- not bad for my first try yes? The 8 point skirt is hand dyed after being sewn together, also hand drafted. And the bodice, well, I cheated and bought it off ebay. But….. It is SO cool, man! Look at this thing! Who could turn this down if they were going to a pirate party??? (Besides, I couln’t find the fabric anywhere and I didn’t want a crash course in corsetry!)

Here is S’s outfit:

The vest is a thoroughly modified and adjusted version of the Simplicity Pirates of the Caribbean pattern, but I added fabric to the back, added side slits, drafted a facing to the remove the lining (I made the thing out of stretch satin backed suede, for goodness sakes!) and did a full waist adjustment to give it more ease. There are 15 buttons down the front, but lucky me, the fabric store was selling random metal buttons by the bag for $2! The top is another pattern redraft after my last post on stupid sizing. During the photo session, S complained about the back being too narrow in the top. This will be definitely remade a bit later. I really thinking of hand drafting it too after my success with my outfit and finding some lovely tutorials on the net.

And every pirate needs accessories yes?

The pouch is for me – obviously there is no place to stash anything in my outfit, I drafted the embroidery myself. The nametag was S’s idea – note the obscure Dread Pirate Roberts reference from the Princess Bride. We’d discussed adding “ask me about my multi pillage discount”, but obviously there wasn’t enough room.

Now….. to go finish the facings in a Minnie Mouse shirt and hunt for some missing ears!

A bit of sewing

This has been a hectic month – not much accomplished. Too many kidlet parties, too many things to get done before school – it is just a crazy time.

But…. I did finally get the shower curtain sewed together from a couple entries ago… It is for a small shower stall that I’ve just used a nasty blue gingham curtain on for the last few years. Well, it is now properly dressed:

This bathroom is in our basement (mostly used by me in the morning to keep the noise down from the sleeping masses).

After having it up for a few weeks, I *think* I need to dye something a bit lighter – the shower is now pretty dark. This will probably take a year or two to change at the rate it took me to get this one done – HA!

More dying of our own

Following the party at John’s, we had some more dying of our own. S wanted to make a sneetch shirt, a yellow shirt with a green star on it, and I had a number of pieces that needed LWI treatment – a fabric piece for a pillowcase, and another for a shower curtain. Here are the pics:

The unfinished shower curtain -

The unfinished pillowcase -

Random dyed item images -

Unfortunately, S had some overspray and was disappointed in his sneetch shirt, and wants to make it again – no pics.

Glitter Glue Princess invited the Divine Miss Em over and she dyed too.

Helping at someone elses tie dye party

John was so taken by the whole tiedye thing at our last party, that he just had to have one for himself! He asked for our help. Of course, he invited everyone he knew…. What I found most interesting was how these people were inencumbered by having never tiedyed before, bringing more than one item to dye, and they just dove right in. I swear there were like 50 items tiedyed by beginners here, and they all had fun.

Here are a few of the results:

 

 

 

A pic of John and his shirt:

 

And these are a couple of my most favorite pics from this party. Look at these happy faces:

 

The Great Dyed….Couch?

Well, it is *actually* a couch cover, but it still took a mountain of dye. This little gem was brought back by S from one of his Pink Floydian Road Trips. His host and hostess, R & M, requested that I dye their couch cover. It was a sickly shade of baby aspirin before I started. Knowing full well that they are into the psychedelic thing, and after inventorying my dyes to see what I had enough of to do this number, I opted for secondary colors – orange, emerald green, and grape. It took 6 liters of prepared dyes, and the biggest tub I’ve ever dyed in to do this. When I first started the rinse, it had much more of a tinge of camouflage to it than it does after finally being washed, which concerned me, as R & M do not remind of dull subtle people who would want a camo couch… Now it is *much* brighter and more to my liking.

 

See for yourself – many thanks to R & M for sharing the action shots of the couch with me!

I think this just proves that I will try dying anything at least once – what will be next? Bring it on!