Shibori Love Day 3 – Shibori Rewards

My love for shibori grew even more as I saw my shibori rewards pay off from my labor when drying all together in my own backyard.

More Shibori Patterns

Day 3 was our last day.  Unfortunately, I did not get as many process photos as I wanted.  I was too busy trying to get it all done before end of day.

I decided to brave the hand stitching.  Hand stitching is not one of best skills.  However, I have to admit, it wasn’t so bad once I got started.  There are many many different stitching patterns and you can make up your own.  Many of these are very intricate aka time-consuming.  I like the more relaxed patterns that didn’t need to be exact.  The patterns are not only determined by the stitches, but the folds you might be stitching through as well.  

Horse’s Teeth?

One of my favorite examples of this is a pattern called Horse’s Teeth.  The finished pattern does look like teeth x-ray, don’t you think?  

This pattern was achieved by sewing a running stitch in a folded piece of fabric and then gathering the fabric along the thread very tightly and tying both ends.  I doubled my fold creating a double-horse’s teeth pattern. 

Shibori Rewards

Day 3 was all about dying our final fabric pieces.  I brought a set of linen napkins to dye as well as two pillowcases, a t-shirt, a blouse, and a scarf to work on and create my shibori rewards.  

You can see another pattern of Horse’s teeth in the right side photo above.  The top left pattern was created by wrapping the fabric on an old-fashioned wooden peg clothespin and then wrapping it with string.  Unfortunately, I can’t remember how the bottom left pattern was created.  (did I mention I was pressed for time? LOL )

The top left photo is another blocking pattern with strips of wood rather than circles (my t-shirt was done like this) and the top right photo is using the circles again to dye a set of pillowcases.  

The slinky pattern was too cool so I repeated it for one of my napkins.  Another blocking pattern was created using alternating clothespins and binder clips on pleated fabric for the bottom right napkin. 

Wearable Shibori Rewards

I am thrilled with my scarf.  I repeated the pattern you saw on Day 2 using the tatsumaki technique where I rolled the fabric around two pieces of rope, scrunched, tied, and dyed it.   This will look great with any shirt and a pair of blue jeans.  

The blouse was an old blouse I’ve had for years.  It was originally white but over time had gotten dingy and couldn’t be worn out any longer.  I did not have the heart to throw it out because it drapes so beautifully when worn and I kept thinking I would dye it one day.  That day was here!  For this blouse, I did a dip dye.  I dipped the whole blouse for a few minutes and then dipped only the bottom half back in for a second dip.  It came out lovely and I repurposed an old shirt.  

My T-shirt was block printed similar to the sample in the store shown on Day 1.  You can see it in last photo too. 

Taking it Home to Finish

Our class decided we could finish our pieces at home.  After dying with indigo, you need to ‘set’ the dye.  After receiving instructions, I knew I could handle that. 

First, all fabric was rinsed again in cool water until I felt confident they were well rinsed and not bleeding much.  While I was doing that, I heated water on the stove in a very large pot with a large ‘glug glug’ of vinegar.  I loved that this didn’t need to be exact.  Just enough that you can start to smell it, but not overpowering.  The fabric pieces then simmered in this pot for an hour.

After washing the fabric, it was hung outside to dry.  Oh, I even dyed some of my tarn as you can see on the bottom shelf.  Not sure what tarn is?  I show you what it is and how to make your own in this video below using a t-shirt.  You can see this video and more on my YouTube channel.  

I found I truly enjoyed the whole process.   One day I might even try making my own indigo vat.  However, it’s nice to know that Aya Fiber Studio has Open Studio days.  I think I’ll prep some fabric pieces and create some different shibori patterns before taking them to the studio.  Then I can use the studio time to dye all my fabrics.  If you are ever in the area, make sure you check out Aya Fiber Studio in Stuart, Florida.  

I hope you enjoyed my Shibori Love Series.  I’m thrilled with my finished Shibori Rewards and even plan on taking some on my upcoming trip to Australia.  Make sure you are following me on Facebook and Instagram to see all my #cheryldownunder adventures and visit OZ with me.