Maker of the House

Oh, I’ve been gone from here for a loooooonnng time.  No excuses really, except that we finally sold our town-home and moved.  That mixed things up a bit, but we’ve been fairly settled for a while and I now have a room in our new home to myself (at least for awhile until our family expands).  I guess I just haven’t done much in the way of crafting until just recently, hence the absence on this blog.  I have a LOT to blog about now…but I’ll start with TIE-DYEING BABY STUFF!  Sweet!  In the near future, I hope to write about making a pillow case for Evan, bean bags for toddler games, a name sign for some friends’ toddler, a tooth pillow for my nephew and a restaurant high chair cover for a friend’s baby shower.  Woo hoo for having dedicated crafting space!  I need to get busy!  I also have one more subject to write about that applies to the topics on this blog…my latest obsession….CLOTH DIAPERING!!  Stay tuned for those adventures too!

Before I get started though, I just wanted to update you on my colored pencil dog prints on Etsy.  Well that didn’t really go anywhere.  I didn’t sell any, for whatever reason.  When nothing happened, and I wasn’t sure what to do next, I had made a decision to start this online program to learn about the business side of art.  It sounded really good in theory, but after I received the first installment of the program, I was instantly overwhelmed with everything it takes to truly be successful at selling artwork.  But it was a good experience because it helped me come to the conclusion that now is just not the time for me to start this.  It would literally take up all my free time, which I decided I did not want to spend doing what needed to be done to sell art.  I would rather keep my house clean, spend time making things for my friends and family, plan activities for Evan…etc. etc.  In other words, I’d rather focus on being a mommy!  It also helped that Mike saw impending meltdown happening and reassured me that I didn’t need to do this right now.  So no more lingering anxieties, guilt or pressure over what I thought I should or should not be doing to support my family.  I can now pour my whole heart into doing exactly what I want and need to be doing right now…and that is being Evan’s mom (and Mike’s wife no less ).  Does that make sense?  I wish it could’ve been simpler and easier, but it wasn’t… c’est la vie .  I don’t know how WAHMs do it.  Maybe once we are done having kids and they are all starting school on a more regular basis, I can reevaluate the situation.  Anyway, I gave it a shot, however small…and for that I have no regrets.  I’m also very grateful that I have the luxury to be a full-time SAHM and that I don’t need to make extra money (though it would be NICE! )  Oh well.  Boo.

Ok, now the fun stuff.  Recently my friend Jo had a baby shower and I got the idea to do a tie-dye station from the book Crafty Mama, which in case you want to do it, tells you everything you need to make amazingly sweet and unique baby stuff for the honored guest.  I was REALLY excited to do this, but extremely nervous at how it would go over with the guests.  But it turned out really fun and not as messy as you would think (worrying about fancy shower outfits mainly).  Jo ended up with more than 20 cool little outfits, hats and bibs for her little girl, due in October.  I can’t wait to see her wearing them!  Jo’s mom-n-law had the great idea of putting a white sheet over the table where people were dyeing to catch drips…she plans on taking the dyed sheet and cutting animals shapes out of it to make a blanket for Jo’s baby!! What a fantastic idea!  It also kept things less messy by soaking up extra dye.  The sheet was beautiful when it was all over, I can’t wait to see what Mom-n-law comes up with!

Here’s one of the items that was created (scroll to the end for more!):

Elena made this fantastic blue and purple spiral onesie

The short and dirty version to spark your interest in the process is the following.

1.  Soak your 100% cotton (prewashed and dried) baby items (hats, bibs, burpcloths, diapers, blankets, t-shirts, onesies…whatever you can think of) in a solution of washing soda (sodium carbonate) and water for about 20-30 minutes.  My tip for this part is that instead of buying the washing soda with your dye (at the art store), buy it at a pool supply or aquarium store where it is MUCH MUCH cheaper…same stuff used to buffer pool or aquarium water but for cheap.  I actually got mine for free b/c being a former marine biologist has some perks!

2.  Wring items out, fold and tie with rubber bands and then dye with Procion MX cold water reactive dye (very important to use this kind of dye).  The book I mentioned has several techniques you can use, although I found better methods for the traditional rainbow spiral on the internet…the book tells you to do one part weirdly, not sure how it would turn out if you did it the authors way.  I did it the traditional way, and it came out great.  Loads and loads of great videos on youtube for different things you can try.

3.  Wrap dyed and tied item in plastic wrap (though next time I will reuse plastic grocery bags which can then be recyled) and keep for 24 hours.  My tip for this part is that you send items home with their makers so they can enjoy the fun of the finishing (seeing their designs) and save you from a lot of extra work.  I learned this the hard way…you’d think 27 baby items wouldn’t take that long to finish….boy was I wrong!!  Though it was so exciting to get to see all the cool designs everyone came up with.

4.  Rinse under cold running water until water runs clear, then untie and continue rinsing.  I found that if I set the item aside to rinse something else and then came back to it, I could rinse even more out.  It was quite a process.  After the items are rinsed as much as possible, you can run them through a cold wash with detergent and tumble dry.  I made a mistake at this part and thankfully was able to recover from it.  I rinsed all the items and then put them in the dryer (without a wash)…to my HORROR dye transfered from item to item in the dryer until all the white in every item was pink and basically they looked ruined.  Here’s where the type of dye we used saved me.  Because the dye is only reactive at a certain point in the process, I was able to rinse all the items again and then wash them so that, to my amazement, all the white came out bright white and all the colors came out perfect.  You will be really glad you bought Procion MX cold water reactive dye and not RIT or any other cheapy tie-dye.  It’s not that expensive anyway…the tiny jars make a surprising amount of dye.  We got 10 colors and that was plenty for a tie-dye party with enough leftover for another party.

Here’s how some of the stuff turned out!  I hope my friends don’t mind me showing off their stuff!  It’s great, the world needs to see it!

Great sunburst pattern by Susan.

Stacey did this one...really neat effect, not sure how she did it!

I made this one for Jo's baby...not exactly as imagined but that's the way tie-dye goes...surprises galore!

Evan sporting his new home-made hippie apparel