To Dye For
Suzie Shinseki
Add some verve to an otherwise-simple skirt by using the following pattern-altering and fabric-dyeing techniques.
Download the leaf template.
What You'll Need
Fabric
- Approximately 2 yards each of 100% cotton: floral print with light background, white, light yellow (amount of fabric depends on the pattern and skirt size)
Other
- 2 bottles each of fuchsia, red, orange and brown fabric dye (such as Tulip One-Step Fashion Dyes)
- Pink 3D paint (such as Slick Pink Tulip 3D Fashion Paint)
- Fabric paint (such as Matte Azalea Tulip Soft Fabric Paint)
- Skirt pattern (such as McCall's M4306)
- 7" dark-rose zipper
- 1"-wide pink grosgrain ribbon to fit waist measurement
- Marking pencils (white chalk, hard lead)
- Two spray bottles
- Two plastic salad bowls or buckets
- Bleach paste (See "Sources" at end of story.)
- Tinfoil
- Plastic tablecloth
- 2 1/2"- or 3"-wide fan-shaped paint brush
- Freezer paper
- Craft knife and cutting mat
- Bleach
- Sponge
- Clear tissue paper
- All-purpose thread
Preparation
Prewash and dry the fabric. Do not use fabric softener or a dryer sheet.
Cut out the skirt pattern and place it on a flat work surface. Lay the pattern tracing cloth over the skirt front pattern piece; trace the pattern. Repeat to trace the skirt back pattern piece. On the traced pattern, draw two horizontal wavy lines across the width to create three sections (refer to photo above). Repeat on the second traced pattern making sure the lines align at the side seams. Mark "front" on the three front pattern sections and "back" on the back sections; cut out the sections.
Lay the patterned fabric out flat. Place the uppermost front and back pieces on the fabric to make sure there's adequate yardage. Leaving at least 5" of fabric around each pattern piece, trim away any excess fabric. Repeat this process to ensure there's enough light-yellow fabric for the center segments and white fabric for the lower segments.
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