Shibori Dress

In September I went to New York City for a day to take a shibori/indigo dyeing class with French General. I have had a indigo dyeing kit sitting in my studio for a year but I've been too afraid to use it, so I figured I needed a push in the right direction.

Everyone that had taken the class before said that last time they had all these dyeing plans but never did it again and I was determined that I wouldn't suffer the same fate. So the next day I ordered this glorious rayon lawn from Dharma Trading, intent on sewing myself a dress for a wedding that was exactly one month away (nothing like a little ambition).

Do you see that swirly mound of amazingness up there? 4 yards of gloriously white and billowy rayon. I wish I had a video of how swooshy and gorgeous it was. Previously I had no idea what rayon was, except that it was good for garments. Luckily, Dharma Trading is fantastic at explaining what you're buying and this is how they define it:

 "Rayon is a by-product of the wood industry that is chemically changed and extruded in fibers that are twisted into threads and woven. Our pure rayons from Indonesia come from fast growing woods that are specifically grown and harvested for this purpose. Rayon has many characteristics of natural fibers, but it is called a man-made fiber because it does not exist in nature."

So there you go.  Learn something new every day.

Next I layed out the pattern (Sew House Seven's Bridgetown Backless Dress) to check my yardage.

I wanted more dark blue than white since it was for a wedding (and I know white is becoming more acceptable, but this former Wedding Planner cringes thinking about it!) so I bound it up in a way where I thought it would be mostly blue.

 

Let me assure you... this is not the way for it to be blue. Remember, it was only my second time doing this!

 A few dips in the indigo (about 5 I believe) and this was unveiled! Clearly not all blue, or even mostly blue. But it was the design I wanted, so I'll give myself a pat on the back for that!

I pouted around the house for a night, lamenting my failed attempt at dyeing. I considered some other options including scrapping it, but then it hit me... just overdye it. One of the wonderful things about an indigo dye bath is that the dye is good for more than one use.

 Not the prettiest picture as it started to get windy and rainy outside, but here it is with one quick overdye. I was using a regular Home Depot taping style bucket so I didn't get everything as evenly saturated as I planned, but I loved the end result!

 

A close up of the mottling...



I started cutting everything out (and I won't lie... cutting this stuff out is a real pain. Similar to cutting water) and realized that what makes this fabulous glorious and flowy also makes it sheer and "body skimming". And this was a fall wedding. And I couldn't wear a bra with it, so a lining was necessary. I dyed the remaining yardage a deep, dark indigo for a skirt and front bodice lining. Of course I forgot to take a photo.

In fact, I was super careful to take photos of every step up until this point. At which point not only did I forget to take photos of the process, but I forgot to take photos of me in it.

So scrounging around for photos...

Here's a photo of the back that my husband took as we were on our way out of the hotel at the end of the night.

And here's the front! Look at my beautiful Goddaughter who was the flower girl (and freezing her butt off right here as I made her pose for a photo despite being 50 degrees out!).

I want to dye all the things now.... all of them...