Ice-dyed, Monet-inspired blouse

[Mobjack Bay]

When I don’t have enough time to make soap, I can still find 15-30 minutes here and there to “slow sew” my way to a blouse. This one is made with linen remnants I ice dyed this past summer. Color-wise, it’s maybe a little more Van Gogh than Monet, but I was aiming for the ice dye to look a bit like Monet’s Water Lilies. All I need to do now is to sew on the buttons

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[AliOop]

This is gorgeous! Do I even dare look up ice-dying on YT? First soaping, then acrylic painting....

 

[Mobjack Bay]

This is gorgeous! Do I even dare look up ice-dying on YT? First soaping, then acrylic painting....

Ice dyeing is MUCH easier than making soap. If you want to try it, let me know and I will send you what you need to do a t-shirt.

 

[AliOop]

That is so generous of you, and yes, I'd love to give it a try and would appreciate all instructions you want to send!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

That is so generous of you, and yes, I'd love to give it a try and would appreciate all instructions you want to send!

PM me your mailing address!

 

[BettyW]

Just looked it up Ice-dying. Love love this idea.
Where are you purchasing all your supplies?
Is there a forum for it?

 

[Sofiepie]

That looks amazing! Very cool

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Just looked it up Ice-dying. Love love this idea.
Where are you purchasing all your supplies?
Is there a forum for it?

For years I purchased mostly from Dharma Trading, which is a great company. I recently ordered dye from Pro Chemical, which is another company know for good customer service. They’re in MA versus Dharma in CA. Both websites have good resource sections, and Dharma offers a wider range of products. I’ve never found a forum quite like this one for dyers. There is at least one group on Reddit and FB would be another place to check. Paula Burch’s website is a good place to get started on dyeing science. The website MadebyBarb provides entry level webpages on ice dyeing. It’s all pretty easy as long as you understand that colors made from blends of dyes will split apart in ice dyeing. For example, a purple dye blend made by mixing a pure red and a pure blue will likely give you red, purple and blue in an ice dyed item. The other key variable is time. Some dyes react slowly and others react relatively quickly.

 

[Andy7891]

That looks really awesome. So inspiring to see people being creative and expressing themselves.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@Andy7891 @Sofiepie thank you!

I think many of us are “makers” at heart. I don’t know what I would do with my time if I couldn’t dream up something new to make!

 

[Mobjack Bay]

Here are a couple of other items I’ve dyed so you can see how folding and tying affect the patterns. The items in the first photo were pleated and bound (with string or rubber bands). The circles on the front of the dress (second photo) were bound tightly or loosely with rubber bands. I typically use only 3-4 dye colors, but they’re blends that split into constituent colors as the ice melts. This can lead to unexpected results, like the lilac tones on the front of the dress that probably split out of a blue.