Scrumple tie-dyeing pants-a tutorial

   
  I bought some white pinwale cord fabric on clearance recently, and decided to make my girls some really BRIGHT pants. Here’s how. I’m using Procion dyes-I assume that you have basic knowledge of how to use them. If not, I sell dye kits with full PDF instructions, and if you’d like the instructions only to see how they work please email me and i’ll send them to you. No strings attached!

   First up, you need white pants, made from a cellulose-based fibre. A little bit of synthetic is OK. Note that if they are sewn with synthetic thread this won’t dye-I sewed these pants with a coordinating colour. Soak them in your soda ash/salt solution, then hang them to dry. You want them completely dry, so they’ll really suck up the dye and give you vibrant results.

  Lay them flat on a firm surface, and start scrunching. (I should be wearing gloves. I always forget when they’re dry.) Grab a handful of fabric and scrunch it up. Hold it in place with your thumb and palm, jump your fingers forward and pull the next crumple up. You’re aiming to finish with a nice tight disk, with an even distribution of fabric between front and back. Think of it as pleating, but without the straight lines-you want an even depth all over, with a flattish top and bottom.
   
  
When your crumpled part gets larger, hold it in place with one hand while you push the loose fabric toward it with the other, still aiming to keep the scrunches random and around the same depth.

      
Band your bundle (you may need an extra set of hands here).  You’re aiming to hold the folds in place, but don’t go so tight that your disk wants to cave in on itself. Keep it flat.

   Mix up a small amount of dye-for these size 8-9 pants I used 1.5 cups of water with 2 tsps of Procion. I’m using green here, for the blue and green pants-I do the lighter colour first. Pour it into the bottom of a shallow container. Around 1cm deep is fine-you want the pants to wick, or soak up the dye slowly to the point you want it.
  
Drop your pants in. You’ll notice they start wicking the dye up right away. Give them a gentle push from above all over to make sure all of the bottom layer comes into contact with the dye. As it’s your lighter colour can leave them in until the dye creeps up to about halfway up the sides of your bundle-it will continue to spread when you take it out. Usually, having the lighter areas slightly bigger than the darker areas gives you a better visual balance of colours on the finished item-otherwise the dark colour can overpower the lighter one.
  
Lift them out and let them drip out the excess, holding them dye side down.

  Now for colour number two, the darker-in this case, blue. Do the same thing-pour your mixed dye into a shallow container, drop the pants in dry side down, and press gently to help the uptake of dye. When the second colour has wicked up the the level of the first, they’re done. You can pull them out a little earlier if you want more white in the finished product, or leave them a little longer if you want no white at all.
   Take them out, and let the excess drain.
 
Sit them, dark side down, onto a rack of some sort. This is a gate we scavenged, and until we have somewhere to use it as a gate i’ve commandeered it. Leave the dye to set, for at least two hours but preferably overnight. Make sure they don’t dry out-once they’re well-drained pop them into a plastic bag if need be. I throw a tarpaulin over all of my stuff (there’s usually lots) and leave it overnight.

   The next day-wow, they’ve changed colour completely! Alright, so I didn’t take photos of this part with the blue/green pants, but i’m sure you’ll understand it with the pink/purple. Rinse them with cold water, still keeping the lighter side up. After a few minutes it’s time to untie, and see what you’ve created……………
  
Voila! Your pattern is revealed. Keep rinsing (a fence or clothes horse is handy for this) until the water is clear, or nearly so. Then hot wash them with double the soap, hang to dry and they’re ready to wear.

  My three rainbow girls, ready to go out for the day. I fully expect that when they hit their teenage years, they’ll rebel by wearing black or grey. It would be fitting. I’ll show you how to do the stripey variation another day.

  Feel free to take this method and add your own twist-add more colours, use the same method on t-shirts or jackets (it makes really funky towels), use resists-experiment! If you do try it out, please share your pictures on my Facebook album dedicated to customer and fan showing off. I love to see your work!

November’s Store Stocking

  Can you tell from the following i’m not feeling eloquent? Sorry, it’s been a really loooong few weeks. But now my son is past his weekly orthopaedic appointments (with the three hour return trip for them), and is pain-free enough to sleep through the night, I should be able to recover some brain power.

  Time for the second of my monthly stockings! This month, i’ll be open for business from the 12th-19th of November. As before, there’s lots of OSFM pockets and covers, as well as Easyflats, trifolds, raw silk liners and all the other essentials you need for cloth nappying.

  I’ve also been taking advantage of the mild weather here to get outside and do some more dyeing-as a result, there’s a whole slew of brand-new items for your perusal. What’s left after my kids raided the pile, anyway-they’ve been going out dressed like rainbows, and getting many compliments about it!

 

  There’s also dye packs, and don’t forget the twirly skirts-they’re perfect with a tie-dyed t-shirt. I’m also listing two bulk pack slots this month.

  Everything is up now for previewing, and when the listings appear with them on Monday morning, you’re able to purchase. Enjoy!

Moving/travelling clearance sale

  After six months of stability we’re off again! The lure of the tent (and warmer climes) is too great, so we’re off to Tasmania for a few months to tie up our loose ends, then we’re meandering up north until we find a place we can, hopefully, settle for good. I’m crossing my fingers, anyway.

  I was going to take my stock with me, and my sewing gear, and carry on trading, but have decided to travel light and unencumbered-so within a fortnight everything will be packed into storage. Until then, i’m going to do my best to reduce the amount of it-less packing is good, right?



 Until the 22nd of July, i’m taking
-20% off wipes and raw silk liners (now $6.40 for five, and $2.40 each respectively).
-15% off Easyflats and trifolds (yes, even bulk packs!)
-10% off all of my OSFM pocket nappies and covers (see my albums for fabrics/prices)

To make your order, simply list what you'd like and email me here.

I’m also clearing out my cute cotton/hemp fitteds I take to market-usually $17, they’re now only $12. Each has an outer of cotton print fabric, a hidden and inner layer of cotton flannelette, a hidden three layer soaker of hemp/organic cotton, plus a lay-in booster of three layers of hemp/organic cotton topped with microfleece. Total bargain! The top two rows are medium, the lower large. As you can see, the unisex are always the first to go!



And lastly, there’s my nanna’s gorgeous knits, at 10% off. I can’t take too much off these, they’re a bargain already! Prices listed are full prices.

  

Fireman $20-Superman $17-Pig $15-Puss in boots $22

Nurse $20-Large upside down doll $30-Small upside down doll $25-Humpty Dumpty $30-Bobby $20

Toys are all easy wash, acrylic wool with polyester stuffing.

Pure wool longies-the smaller two are 12-18m, the larger 18-24m $30.

Waist elastic will be hand-cased to your measurements, or to standard sizing if requested.

  There is a small catch-I have very limited time, so will only be able to do a small amount of sewing if orders should contain something that isn’t finished. After that, I will have to refuse orders that require me to make up nappies, or suggest alternatives that are already made up. I do have a lot of stock, so it shouldn’t be an issue-but please be aware that I haven’t made one of everything, and if you order closer to the closing date your choice may be sold out. So if you’re going to order, please don’t dilly-dally! All orders will be given priority by the order they’re received, so first in, best dressed.

  As always, postage is Australia Post cost-if you’d like registered, please note that. And to order, email me here. I am rather busy packing around five children, so it may be a few days before I get back to you. But as you’re all busy mums yourselves, i’m sure you’ll be fine with that (which is why I love dealing with you all!)

xxKelly.

Custom Pants

    Not nappies, I know, but I am slowly diversifying here! These are for two sisters in our homeschool group, who have the same problem as my girls-long legs and small waists. And they’re exactly the same as the ones I made my three girls this winter! The girls chose their fabrics, so I hope it leads to total adoration and lots of wears.