The primary reason that I am taking the tea dyeing class is that I wanted to tea dye some really ugly blocks and my original attempts have failed. After my sample dyeing this weekend I was ready to dye the blocks. I decided to use coffee instead of teas on these but I did get the effect that I wanted. The coffee smell was so strong that it almost made me sick! In the end, it was worth it.
First, understand that these blocks are ugly before and after! I make blocks even out of my last chance scraps. I got this idea from an article in American Quilter magazine a few years ago and the technique was called "mile-a-minute quilts". I made my blocks a little differently but they are basicall just all of the scraps sewn together randomly - almost a crazy quilt patch. I decided to make them and use them to try different setting arrangements. I made 3 sets of blocks: black/white/red, brights and blue/gold/tan. Here's the first quilt that I made like this. My scrap bin is already overflowing again!
The blue/tan/gold blocks are going to be set with navy blue fabric in sort of a streak of lightening setting. But the blocks were just too bright and that's why I wanted to dye them. I like the results although they don't show well in the photo - trust me, it worked! Here's the photo - before on top. Now they go back in the bin to be made later. Meanwhile, I found a bolt of muslin that was given to me a few months ago. I prewashed it last night, ripped it into 17 1-yard pieces and will start tea-dyeing it this week. I think I have just enough teas here at home to dye all of this yardage different colors!
You are one step away from being a crazy quilter! All of those blocks could very easily be called crazyquilting blocks. And, they all look great (even before the tea). The catch with CQ is that on the bright or light colored patches you could have "moved" the color around with the embroidery stitches. Anyway, I like all of your pieces--the purple one and this one too.
Posted by: Debra Spincic | February 20, 2007 at 09:26 AM
I don't think the before's looked ugly...but they do really look great now!
Posted by: Terri | February 20, 2007 at 10:42 PM
The coffee staining looks great - tones the brightness down a bit.
Posted by: Dianne | February 21, 2007 at 06:00 AM
The coffee staining looks great - tones the brightness down a bit.
Posted by: Dianne | February 21, 2007 at 06:01 AM
The coffee staining looks great - tones the brightness down a bit.
Posted by: Dianne | February 21, 2007 at 06:01 AM
Fun blocks! I can't wait to see what the quilt looks like when it is put together!
Why did you choose coffee over tea to stain these?
Posted by: Suzanne | February 21, 2007 at 07:03 PM
They look good to me 'before' - but they do look better 'after'. You've made them look vintage.
Posted by: Lynda | February 22, 2007 at 12:50 AM