Thursday, March 11, 2010

Creating A Peticoat Parade

Anyone who has ever dyed clothing before knows what a dangerous event this can be.."The Dye'athon"
No white piece of fabric is safe from being transformed into something colourful in an instant and where to stop!!!!!...



I had some nylon nighties ready for a transformation, and I have the hugest collection of old doilies which I cant help but buy every time I visit a 2nd hand shop, theyre all mine! MINE!!!
Dye Dye Dye......


While the doilies are drying i consult my bible of dreams, everything I want to create goes into this magic book and it always comes out a reality, its the rule of the book!......


so I draw up a design of the things I can do to transform these dresses ......
Hmmmm seems someone else has been drawing they're dreams too.....


everything is dry, this is where I start......


I have lots of different dyed doilies, some plain, some tie dyed, some dip dyed.
When you dye fabric it has to have a natural fibre somewhere in it, the very darker dyed fabric is obviously 100% natural, its pretty much like dipping wood in dye and a piece of plastic.  To find out if something can be dyed you can do a lighter test, tease off a bit of the fibres, cotton, or a cut of the fabric if you can, light the end with the flame and let it burn a second, blow it out and press between your fingers, if its soot it will dye, if this little morsel of melted plastic burns your finger ( hehe ) it wont dye, I have spent many a morning in the corners of op shops lighting little wads of wool! 
Nighties are usually NYLON ( which actually means New York and London, the places it was created) and they dye fabulously......


scrounge up some pins from your pin tray.....


and pin them where you want them sewn, pin head on the inside so it looks like a clock, this way you can sew straight over the pins without having to stop.....


make sure you have a familiar watching every move you make just in case its wrong!!!.....


and put the pedal to the metal and sew...........


I also screen print, so I put some names on my dresses with pretty purple paint.......


so whoever wears this masterpiece can be ohh so proud....


I also have some wooden indian stamps so I stamped a mandala onto the blue dress with fabric paint, now fabric paint can be pricey and so many people make it now too which means there are some bad paints out in the world, when i dont have the right paint colour and im doing stamping, most of the time i will use test pots of house paint, interior or exterior, you have the hugest selection of colours, they are only a few dollars and they dont wash off, ever!!!!, they do the most amazing printing because the paint texture is so creamy and smooth and you dont have to heat set anything like fabric paints, once its dry its colour fast......

I cut a paper circle and placed it on my dress so I could make a perfect circle, then stamped around it...


more purple stamping....


I made a spiral stamp from a piece of paper, curled and taped on one side so it stayed in place, I thought it worked really well....


on the front I had sewen on the doilies and pure silk ribbon bows, this top doilie is a pocket, so teeny so cute....


and I printed a paper moon girl on the purple dress with gold butterflies....


sweet heart buttons and purple bows.....


this is what they looked like, the back with a tie dye on the side......


eww sew pretty front....


the turquoise pretty front..see the open pocket??.....


can you see that the bottom has been dip dyed in purple.....


and once I added the dots with the end of a paintbrush thats not the brush (for perfect circles) and added some gold it looked so powerful, like any mandala should....


we thought you would like to see them modeled, so I tied a dress to my munchy and we went on a photo shoot, ( thanks daddy for taking the photos)


dancing in the fields so you can see how free you could feel in a dress so beautiful...


they just feel so silky and nice, summer festivals here we come!! Ohh whats that, its Autum next week?? ohh well, maybe next year!.....


I waaaas going to keep these dresses, I actually made them for myself for the weekend because we're going camping and I love to dress up when Im camping, but I feel I can let them go, so I have listed them on Etsy and if any of you lovelies want them you can go to some summer music festivals for me, please do!!!


I hope i have taught you some techniques, or given you hints, inspiration or a bit of knowledge somewhere..

Thanyou for all your past comments, I am still getting around all the blogs, Im so nosey though and spend a 1/2 hour at each, as well as the ones I follow, so you can see where my time managment is going wrong.  Im getting to you!!

Have a great weekend and I will see you all back here on Monday, Im hoping that Shona Cole's new book "The Artistic Mother" will arrive in my mailbox tomorrow before we leave so I can spend the weekend reading,
Ohh thats right Im camping with toddlers!!! hehe xxx

sheree xxx

15 comments:

  1. oh! the dress is fantastic! and you are so beautiful wearing it...how did you make the print with the paper moon?
    i have too a book like yours!!!! everything i want to create inserts firstly there!!

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  2. True magic once again -- thanks for leading as through the whole process! My favorite photo of all is the one in which you hold India. That one truly shines!!! :)

    Big hugs,
    Birgit

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  3. Sheree, you are blowing my mind! I have been collecting slips from op shops, and purchasing dyes and doilies to do this exact thing (I also want to do camisoles to wear with jeans)...thankyou so much for inspiring me - like Birgit, I am besotted by that photo of you and your daughter, it is truly magical x

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  4. Gorgeous bunch of inspiration! Thank you so much for all the lovely detail. I truly need to fire up my book of dreams again.

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  5. The dresses are magical but I am more taken with your bible of dreams. What a beautiful idea. The book cover is lovely as well. Thankyou so much for adding instructions and ideas to my morning. Your little girl is also so very sweet.

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  6. Your creations are gorgeous and so inspirational. Your outdoor pics are so so refreshing. Here, in Northern Indiana USA, we are just coming out of winter and starting to experience early spring days. The temps are in the high 40s during the day. Seeing you outside dancing in the wildflowers makes me long for the quick return of Summer.
    Carol

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  7. ~each post you do leaves me to wonder where does all your inspiration come from!! these are absolutely gorgeous and a brilliant use of materials...had to sneak over to your etsy shop and swoop up the purple one...all i can say is l♥♥♥ve...as spring is soon to arrive this sweet little dress will be perect...how lovely are you to share the directions for this...much l♥ve and light...brightest blessings~

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  8. Dear Sheree, you have done it again. These dresses are so magical, and thanks for showing how you created them! So much work was involved. And congratulations for selling one of the dresses already. I'm so happy for you, as it's obvious how much love you poured into making them. The photos of you and your dear little sweetie are so ethereal...how I would love to be out in that field!
    Have a wonderful camping trip, and I do hope to chat with you soon. :)
    Theresa

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  9. Wow how fun are they! And your story in pictures I just love! :)

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  10. Sheree,

    I've been waiting for your new post, just knowing that you've been keeping yourself busy with things beyond beautiful :-D
    I am so enthralled with your creations! Your brain must swim and churn with ideas constantly...and the fact that you act on them is a true inspiration!....House paint...good to know!

    I usually just scroll down my posts to see if any new comments were made, so I'm sorry to say I didn't see that you left a message on my very 1st post til just recently! Ooops!
    I would be honored (though it's scary to commit to something so important...)to do a commission for you! I must just say that though I use reference photos, I'm definately not a portrait artist. My paintings may resemble the subject in the photo, but my intention (and skill level) make it less than an exact replica....
    If you are still interested, I'd love to speak to you further :)

    Have a wonderful weekend with your family....I see that they are the source of all your Magic!

    All my Best,
    Cameron

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  11. How lovely. Beautiful work, thank you for sharing.

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  12. G'day Sheree
    I hope you had a wonderful w/e camping... even with toddlers... maybe you got as far as the south to the Hokitiki Wildfood festival to wear your beautiful dresses... shame to sell them when they look so beautiful on you, but, some days, ya just gotta do what ya gotta do...
    Love how you have a Mr. [or is that Missy] Nobody come to live at your house [& add some special coded inscriptions in 'your' bible of dreams ... 'tis only fair - he lived with me for nigh on 20 years & he was wanting to travel... haha

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  13. Sheree, these creations are beautiful & i so enjoyed the creative journey, i am inpired, thank you. Hope you have a wonderful camping weekend, we cant wait for the warmer weather so that we cam dissapear into the wilds with our tent too x x

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  14. These dresses are beautiful.The thought of sommer is still far away her with avalanches and closed roads.But so nice to see another reality out there.

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