heavy mind

I sewed my first top/blouse tonight - only took me 3 hours and a bit of cursing. I found the pattern on pinterest, it's called The Two Seams Dress. The width fits me pretty well but it's definitely drape-y on the sides. I tucked it into this skirt and I look like a peppermint candy. I used a rolled hem for the neckline and sleeves (first time for that). That was the most tricky part especially when the two seams came undone. The fabric I used was a bed sheet from Thrift Giant in Denton. It has a soft "pill-y" (like fleece after awhile) side and a smooth polyester side. The bed sheet frayed like crazy and I didn't use an iron for the hem. I used a quarter fold for the bottom of the shirt.

Mods to the pattern: instead of 6 inches down from the shoulder for the arm holes, I used 7 inches. Now I can say I've made a dress (painted bed sheet, the darts made my boobs kind of show on the side - never again), a skirt (made from stretchy fabric and it's way too short), and now a blouse! I kind of hate sewing clothes. You know, it's got to fit. Quilts don't have to fit. I want to be the kind of gal that sews their own clothes but gosh darn-it, I hate it. It's like I love the look and feel of finished knitted socks but the actual process of knitting socks sucks.

 

This picture shows how drape-y the sides are. Kind of crazy. It looks much better tucked in but hey, it's supposed to be for pregnant women.  

And then just for me, I dyed it! Here are the progress of 3 hours on the stove. I had extra bed sheet fabric and so I decided to eco bundle that up. I stuffed it with leaf crumbs and the rest of my dried nature.

 

I yelped in excitement when I saw those splotches of  charcoal. I used black bean and pomegranate dye and then I added more water and pine cones for more natural dye. I kept adding iron mordant because I am totally hoping for a charcoal, brown taupe. It's gonna be gorgeous! 

 

I loosely wrapped the blouse around a medium thickness branch because I really want an all over color with a bit of semi-solid goodness. I'm pretty sure the science is that iron reacts with tannin (found in tree bark).

As for that weird bundle, I wrapped it tightly on itself hoping to get either leaf prints or "ghost" prints. Either way, it's gonna be great.

Nature crumbs and turmeric.