Sunday, March 10, 2013

Project Repaired and Fabric Dye Experiment/BooBoo

I have been determined to finish up some of my lingering projects and get them out of the way before I move on.  Somehow I went backwards this weekend.  I was so determined!  It wasn't all bad, but it seemed that everything I attempted on Saturday wasn't going as anticipated.

I did manage to repair this beaded amulet bag necklace.  It was my early morning project.  The strap had broken and as you probably know, the beads spread everywhere when that happens.  It was several years back, so I was hoping I had recovered all the beads at the time.  



The strap is made up of three strands and portions of two of them had broken.  This was made before Fireline was invented, or at least before I had heard of it.  The long black beads (bugle beads) had rubbed on the threads I presume and worn through the threads.  I first reinforced the unbroken strand and then did the same with the remaining strands adding in the missing sections as needed.


Of course I was a few beads short but fortunately had some replacements in my studio.  One UFO down and I am too embarrassed to tell you how many remain.  I will tell you I have about four necklaces I made but just never added the closures.  Why do I do that!  (Please don't analyze me, that is rhetorical ~ lol).



I was next determined to 'antique' the white lace I purchased to finish up my CQJP 2012.  I had some Rit dye waiting to be used.  I've never used Rit before this but had purchased chocolate brown, pink and green for when I was in the mood.  Of course I didn't want it to go to waste so I through in some doilies and a couple of other pieces of trim.

This ended up being a new project in the making.  The trim actually ended up a dark chocolate almost immediately so I ran to my room and grabbed a stained and dingy (white) top I had in my closet and through it into the vat.  I now have a new project to work on :-(

Here are my 'brown' dyeing results.  I want to use the laces to dress up the V-neckline of the t-shirt type top.  The color you see on the lace is some fiber I had and am thinking about incorporating into the mix.




It was interesting to see how the dye took on the various trims.  The eyelet trim above really surprised me as did the two doilies immediately below.  The doilies were exactly the same but one dyed darker than the other.



The pieces all coordinate nicely and it is a nice color, but the lace won't work on the project I had intended to use it on, so it will probably ended up on this shirt.  As you can see below, the white thread on the t-shirt didn't take the dye so the lace trim will cover that nicely.  For now I will set this aside while I work on (or mess up) some of my other UFOs.



I forgot to mention I was also working on another project.  


I decided to base paint this teapot white.  Note to self:  always clean the pieces with vinegar to remove oils and dirt.  I tend to just dig right in to a project...I'm bad.  Long story short...I sprayed it with paint which didn't go on too smoothly and it was older spray paint which seemed to easily get runs.  Discouraging, but I'll figure something out.

Can't wait to see what today brings.  The genealogy is going great though, except that I am spending hours on it and not getting to my usual blog visits and I apologize for that.  I thank you for taking the time and leaving such nice comments when you visit my blog.  I really love hearing from you and keeping in touch.


6 comments:

Suztats said...

It's funny how every piece of fabric or thread absorbs the dye in a different way, isn't it? Makes things interesting! Don't look at it as a mistake-- it's a design/stash opportunity, right? lol Good on you getting to the UFO's. I always find the 'finishing' less fun than the creating.

Marjolein said...

The colors of the lace remind me of the center piece of the Large Crazy Quilt Block you were doubting about.

Createology said...

Your little beaded bags are beautiful. Dyes are always tricky with different fabrics/laces/trims. I really like the threads on the lace ascot for your tee. Congratulations on finishing some UFOs.

Susan Shufelt said...

Hi Connie...love your amulet purse. I recently picked up an old Susan Clark amulet purse kit at a craft sale/swap. I traded some earrings for it. And can't wait to get started at it. Love the dyed laces also. I have used Rit dyes also. I have a hard time with brown. Usually turns out purplish looking to me. And the dye hold different to different types of fibers (cotton vs. polys). Anyways great job.

Susan Shufelt said...

Hi Connie...love your amulet purse. I recently picked up an old Susan Clark amulet purse kit at a craft sale/swap. I traded some earrings for it. And can't wait to get started at it. Love the dyed laces also. I have used Rit dyes also. I have a hard time with brown. Usually turns out purplish looking to me. And the dye hold different to different types of fibers (cotton vs. polys). Anyways great job.

margaret said...

a very pretty amulet purse Connie, the dyed lace and bits and bobs are in a great variety of shades, colour very oldy worldy, very nice.