My goal for January is making the five blocks this month for Cheddarback. Three of the blocks require paper piecing, a new technique for me, and the other two don't look much easier.
You can see the blocks here, at Sentimental Stitches. Many thanks to Gay Bomers for offering this sew-along. And, of course, thanks to the creator of Cheddarback. I continue to be amazed at her piecing abilities as well as her willingness to accept less than perfect blocks. (She has a number of points that disappear into the seams.)
These are fabrics I may use though I'm still looking for ones I think will match better than these.
I heated the water in a plastic container and sprinkled in maybe half a teaspoon of the color remover.
This is what happened! The fabric in the background is the original color.
The middle strip I put in the dye and removed it more quickly but it was still too light.
For the strip at top I poured about a cup of the solution into another plastic container, added more hot water, and added the fabric. It's hard to tell the true color of fabric when it's wet but I think I pulled this one out just in time. In color it's a close match to the fabric in the original Cheddarback block, Block 47.
I'm linking this post to One Monthly Goal January Link-up at Patty's blog, Elm Street Quilts. Many, many thanks to her for organizing and hosting this link-up every month. I can imagine it could be a thankless job. I'm thank for it because it makes me push myself a little more than I might otherwise.
--Nancy.
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You do such beautiful work--and your fabrics are always so neat and tidy. I d love to sew a quilt or even a block set up by you.[I am incorrigibly messy, sigh].Your Cheddarback will be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to discard the dye pots or put out of the kitchen, so you don't accidentally use them in a month or two for food! The dye stripper residue may linger!
lizzy
Thank you, Lizzy. I think it's because I have such a small space that I have to keep fabrics folded and on shelves, or at least in piles. But, if you saw the piles you might reconsider my neatness.
DeleteI'll keep the dye containers with the others I've used for dyes in the past. I definitely don't want to confuse them with food containers!
Fascinating to see what the color remover did to your fabric. I have often used color remover when the iron in our well water stains something with an orange color, but I had never thought to lighten a fabric color with it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought of it either, Janet, except I saw the article in a quilting magazine. In fact, I don't think I knew there was such a product. We don't have well water but it's good to know it works for things like that.
DeleteHey, learning a new technique, good for you. Your experiment looks like it worked. Wish I was there to help with the paper piecing but you've got youtube which is probably much better.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robin. I'm pleased to add one more "technique" to change fabric colors to my repertoire.
DeleteI don't often use youtube to learn new things because I learn better by reading and seeing diagrams, though I do occasionally watch a video. No matter how I learned I think learning to foundation paper piece would be a challenge. But thank you for the wish that you could be here to teach me. I appreciate that!
Yes, to engaging in new learning. Our brains need this apparently! Meanwhile, I've never heard of this item and was interested in your experiment. I have a number of fabrics that could maybe benefit from being lightened. Interesting...
ReplyDeleteMaybe learning something new keeps our brains from aging just a little. If you decide to try the Rit color remover be careful to take the fabrics out quickly until you get a color you want. I was really surprised at how fast it worked. I felt like a fat quarter of a bright could become a fat quarter of very pale fabric in less time than it takes to dip it in the solution!
DeleteVery cool that you found a way to transform that piece into just the right color. The Cheddarback project is so nice. I've only done paper piecing once. The precision is amazing!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Cynthia. Paper piecing is accurate but I found it oh-so-challenging! I don't think it's a technique I'd like to use on a regular basis.
DeleteFun project Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patty.
ReplyDeleteThose colors on the bottom photo are just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI like that range of colors, too, Brenna. (But maybe minus the gold/yellow one.)
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