Sunday, October 23, 2011

Fabric Dyeing Workshop

There are so many talented ladies in my quilt guild, and this weekend I was privileged to learn from yet another one.  Kim Eichler-Messmer is a professor at the Kansas City Art Institute.  She makes wonderful quilts, many inspired by the midwest landscape, and she uses all her own hand-dyed fabrics.  She generously offered to do a workshop on fabric dyeing for a lucky few guild members (okay, I'll admit, I was sitting next to her at the guild meeting when she had the signup sheet, and I may have taken advantage of that).
We met in her studio space and dove right in.  Kim taught us how to do three different dyeing techniques.  Here are my low water immersion and solid shade dyed fabrics.
Next, Kim showed us how to do a gradation dye.  She uses this technique a lot in her work, and I can see why!  I did a two color gradation from yellow to turquoise.
 Dreamy!
The whole day was such a treat.  Many thanks to Kim for sharing her space and her expertise with us!

11 comments:

Kristin said...

I took today's class - it was so much fun! I'm really anxious for my fabric to dry. And really anxious to dye some more.

Flaun of I Plead Quilty! said...

This is awesome. I wonder if anyone in our guild knows the skill and could teach us!

Erica said...

I love the colors you were able to achieve! That looks like a very fun workshop.

Amy Friend said...

Oh, I would have loved that!

Mary Anne said...

Gorgeous! It looks like you all had a great time!

Vicki said...

So pretty. Looks like it was fun!

Sharon said...

Once again, I love your color choices. They will make a beautiful quilt.

laura said...

Looks fun, and in my FAVORITE color palette! beautiful.

Kim Eichler-Messmer said...

Alex, your fabric turned out really beautiful! I didn't get to see anyone's final pieces because they were all still wet, so it's great to see them here!

Jenny @ Anything Pretty said...

Amazing! I really wanted to take the workshop but we had family in town this weekend. Seeing your results makes me even sadder I missed it!

Bellgirl said...

What dreamy colours! I wonder if she's planning to tour Australia?