Ugly Fabric Challenge 2014 – Addition

This time around, I decided to add color. Some theories were confirmed, and one surprised me. Since I was experimenting with thickened dye paste, I thought I’d also work on some white 480M sateen fabric. The sateen is on the left and the “ugly” fabric is on the right.

This first test – on the “ugly” fabric alone – was using Jewels DeColourant Plus – emerald, fuchsia, and navy blue:

As you can see from the photo – the top row – the emerald and the fuchsia did just fine, but nothing happened with the navy blue. I used a stamp and painted a good sized swatch so you could see the colors clearly. All the bottles were purchased at the same time, but I think the navy blue chemicals expired.

Then I moved onto using Procion MX-308 Fuchsia. A dash of that was mixed with 2 tsps of thickened sodium alginate, and 1/4 tsp soda ash. It was pretty thick, so I added a bit of water, and used a katazome screen made years ago. The screen worked great, cleaned up beautifully, and that is the faint floral design you see on the second row of the “ugly” fabric. Please double click on the image, as it’s pretty hard to see against the purple fabric.

And believe it or not, the same stencil was used with some Aloe Vera gel and 3 drops of Liquitex ink Naphthol Crimson. It showed up when wet, but this photo was taken after it dried. It totally disappeared. That was the big surprise with this experiment as I thought the ink was opaque.

That was it for experimenting with the “ugly” fabric, but I had left over print paste and used it on the 480M sateen fabric:

First print was with the same stamp I used with the deColourant Plus, and the second print was with a tree screen I made with sheer drapery fabric sandwiched between interfacing, and sealed with latex paint. It’s not very clear, and I’m not very happy with this screen. It will require a do over.

The third print was made with a Mod Podge screen I made a few years ago. This was also made with the same drapery fabric, but Mod Podge was painted around the design, and the print quality is outstanding. Clean up was also a breeze.

This second photo of the 480M sateen was after it was washed and dried:

Big difference in color, isn’t there?

I didn’t take a second picture of the “ugly” fabric after it was washed, as I totally lost the dyed floral print. I figured I would, but stubborn head me, had to confirm for herself that you really can’t overdye an already dark piece of dyed fabric with another dark dye. Some of us have to learn the hard way, and others take the wisdom of the dye gurus, and don’t waste their time.

My take on the 2014 Ugly Fabric Challenge was when you get a dark fabric, discharge it, then start layering. If you want to leave the dark fabric in place, then use OPAQUE paints, and stencil or draw designs all over it. Or texture it with stitching. Hmmm, now that actually sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe after my table runner is quilted, I’ll tackle that idea. Sounds like fun, true?

Hugs…