Craft Week!

So my crafty weekend turned into a full crafty week. It all started with the arrival of a collection of craft books for review. And how can I possibly review a craft book without trying some of the crafts!

Among the books: Generation T by Megan Nicolay. Much of her stuff is a little too edgy for me (and a little too revealing!). But I decided to try my hand at a few projects.

My First Rule of Craft is "Always Make a Simple Project As Complicated As You Can." So I decided to try "salvaging" a few stained t-shirts with a dye bath.

The Raw Materials:

The Method:

The Results:

I attempted to make one of the blue shirts as a tie-dye, but the twine fell off during the washing cycle. Oops. I also learned some valuable lessons about dying material:

*Dye does not hide stains. Especially grease stains and pit stains. Not to get too TMI on you, but well, I sweat. I don't glow or perspire or whatever. I sweat. And despite wearing deodorant and showering regularly, my white shirts tend to have a short lifespan. I thought I could salvage a few of those shirts, but instead of hiding the stained areas, the dye accentuated them.

*Do not---I repeat, do not!---use dark dyes (like purple) in your washing machine. Especially if that machine is a rental. Because that dye will splatter and permanently stain the lid and loading area of the machine. And several hours of scrubbing with boiling water and bleach will not get rid of the stains.

*Remove everything in a five-foot radius of the dye area. Because even though you theoretically have the dye sealed in the washing machine, it will find a way to splatter out of the machine. I did the blue shirts first and then hung them above the washing machine while I did the purple shirt. The blue shirts are now speckled with purple.

In the end, the purple shirt was the only one to come out in a wearable condition. So I did my first remaking experiment with one of the blue shirts.

From a tee-shirt:

To a tee-vest:

More to come soon!


P.S. Please excuse the absolutely crappy photo quality. Part of it is my fault for not photographing under the best conditions. But most of it is Walgreen's fault for completely effing up my roll of film.