There's not an exact proportion of paint to water to use for dying fabric. I poured a small splash of paint into a large mixing bowl. I added hot tap water to the paint, mixing it with a whisk, till the mixture was the consistency that I thought it should be ... really watery. (next time, I will probably see what happens if I use even less paint.)
I didn't think about this becoming a blog post, so I was a little late with the photos of the process. The photo above shows the last piece of fabric that I dunked into the dye, and the mess that this made in my kitchen sink. I didn't soak the fabric ... I just squished it into the solution in the mixing bowl, making sure that there was dye all over the fabric, wrung it out, put it back into the bowl and squished it into the dye again, wrung it out really well, and set it aside. Then I used Soft Scrub to clean the sink.
Since this was an experiment, I wanted to see if the dyed fabric would end up being colorfast and machine washable ... so I tossed them into my washer (front loader) and washed them on the Delicate setting with a small amount of detergent. I thoroughly expected to find that the dye completely washed out when I checked it after the wash cycle, but it didn't! I was pleasantly surprised at how much I really liked the colors. After a spin through the dryer, I was ready to get to work making something ... throw pillows.
This is the design that I came up with ... graphite for the background, with natural and Primer Red strips appliqued onto it. I tore the strips and fringed them, to add some texture and a bit of rustic interest to the design.
As always, at least one of the cats comes to help. In this case, it was Dorothy ... checking my sewing machine to make sure that it was in good working order after its tune up at the repair shop last month.
Here is how the pillow cover turned out.
The cording around the edge adds a nice finishing touch ... and I installed a zipper on the back. (Envelope closures and ties are quicker to construct, but a zipper makes for a much nicer pillow.)
Here we have the finished product!
I love how this turned out. I learned that I really like the colors that resulted from using chalk paint to dye the fabric, and I am anxious to see what I get when I use other colors of paint. This pillow and its mate (I made two of them at the same time) will go into the heap of things that are destined for the Lucketts Spring Market in May.