I need more sturdy jumpers for work….. to cover up my shirts that snag on something and become holy……we haven’t been able to tell what they are catching on, but it has happened to several of us. Alas, two of my new organic cotton winter tees already have holes!
So….
I had some lovely cotton colorgrown waffle weave fabric….bought awhile ago when it was on sale. Had planned on making pants out of it, but then decided that it would make a sturdy jumper to protect my shirts!
I used Sonya Philips’ Dress #1 pattern…. an old stand-by.
Sewed the dress up…. even went the extra mile and finished ALL of the seams. Added some slant patch pockets. Was so proud of it!!
Then I tried it on. 😦 I looked like I was wearing a potato sack.
The fabric was a bit too heavy/stiff to fall nicely. And the very light brown color did nothing for me (took a scrap of fabric and tried boiling it in water with soda..to see if it would darken… not much).
What to do?
Why dye it of course!! I chose madder.
I mordanted the fabric, and then soaked it in salt water over night…. but still ended up with blotches 😦 😦
Tried to over dye it…. again with madder.
The splotches remain.
Am thinking, that whereas the dye pot was huge, and there was plenty of space for the fabric to move freely in it….. the pot I mordanted the dress/jumper in, wasn’t. Could be the splotches were from a poor mordanting job, rather than a poor dye job.
Ah well. I will wear it. Still doesn’t look wonderful on me, but it will protect my shirts.
splotches….. 😦
Before and after… color not quite true, the original cotton was a bit more paper bag color…. and the jumper is a bit deeper coral.