Tie Dye Birthday Cakes

The daughter came back from Europe straight into another year older.
I saw this Duff's Tie Dye  cake mix at Target and immediately had to make this cake for her.


The color dyes are fabulous. They bake nearly true to the cake box art.


I made the Camouflage Cake for the other child back in February.
These are simple cake mixes.
You divy up the batter into small bowls, color them, plop them in the cake pans.
A little messy. But easy clean-up messy.

Real simple Buttercream frosting.
Added some bling.

Found a setting on my smarty pants phone -making the cake a cartoon-like image.









Very tasty.
Very tie dye.

Although I can only taste the frosting because of my food sensitivities.

The plate was designed and made by my daughter. It is now the designated  cake plate.



In major marketing genious, Duff's made youtube videos if you think making the cake is difficult!

Tie-Dye Scarf

I was inspired to make this scarf after seeing it on the SewMamaSew blog in the Handmade Holidays for November  17, 2010. Category: Hipsters. 
It's so cool to be hip.
Here's the link to the tutorial.

Here's how mine turned out. I used a length of tie-dyed cotton sheeting that my friend, pencil girl, whipped up. I believe she wanted me to look at it and tell her how she could make a scarf for me but I turned it around when I saw the above post. My original tiny thoughts about this tie-dyed material was to make it straight and narrow and somehow fringe the ends into somewhat long spirals. Maybe add some beading. I am so glad I didn't see that idea through. This sewing with elastic in the bobbin is so much more rewarding - and faster.


 You start with a thin material. This cotton sheeting, well washed and re-purposed, is almost too thick. Measure and seam together a piece 90 inches x 17 inches.
You could either use your serger for a rolled hem on the edges or use your iron and fold over 1/4" and fold again 1/4". Sew down for a neat edge.  
Leave the ends unseamed for now.

 

 Next, spread the 'scarf' out and mark, lengthwise, three lines evenly spaced. I folded my side edges to hem so my finished width was 16". I laid my quilter's ruler out and saw easily that my three lines would be at 4", 8" and 12" (4 inches between lines). It's not rocket science and they don't necessarily need to be exact. Random, undulating lines could be on the next scarf I make.

Grab an extra bobbin and nylon elastic thread. Wind the bobbin by hand trying not to stretch the elastic too much as you wind. The tutorial said a longer stitch length (4)  and higher pressure foot tension is key. Use your regular thread on the upper spool. The elastic thread is only on the bobbin.  Sew as normal down each of your chalked lines.

 

To finish, hem your scarf ends with a narrow 1/4" hem by folding over 1/4" and folding a second time 1/4" and sewing it down.

Proudly modeled by Rocket. Or,  fill in the blank space for what Rocket really thinks about being abused like this. "________  _________  ______________  ____  _______  _________"

Tie Dye & Dip Dye, the 4-H WAY

Reporting from the 'Running with Scissors' 4H group:

These  creative girls decided to tackle TieDye and Dip-Dyeing recently. These dyeing methods are two ways to add vibrant color to t-shirts, curtains, hats or any fabric that will yield a pattern depending on technique but will also surprise you every time.
For TieDyeing, they  used a TieDye kit from Jacquard, available from here. "The colors were very vibrant and have withstood multiple washings," explains the 4H leader. "I would get this brand again."

You can see from the above photos they are using rubber bands (tight) to separate sections for the dye. The directions on this kit were good and the following photos show another technique.

 

 

The leader practiced prior with her niece and nephew and used Tulip Dyes bought here. These colors were softer and more muted. The blue is more denim blue and the red is more pink.

Results from the 4H'ers:

Dip Dyeing. These 4H'ers did not use a kit this time. They used idye kits made for the washing machine. Also from Jacquard.
The girls requested certain colors like lime green and aquamarine which Jacquard carries.

The 4H leader says, "They gave a very uniform color which is nice, but we might have gotten different results with another type of dye. I would want to try another type of dye for this project to experiment next time. The idye does give very vibrant color that lasts through multiple washings, we just need to work on our dip dye technique."

No kit for this, thus no exact instructions.

You need a tub big enough to dip your item into. These 4H'ers were dip dyeing tank tops so they needed a medium small container.
The idea is to get a graduated color change from light to dark.

"The 4H girls have received lots of exclamations on their tie dye shirts and they wear them often.
They would like to do this project again. I am keeping a list of tie dye techniques I see or want to try, such as peace designs in the dye or different folding techniques, like the accordion fold."

Hanging Wet
It's easy to discern the color gradients while wet.
Although, when they are dry, they look very subtle.

There are lots of techniques on the internet that can help or confuse you. The basic technique is to experiment to find out which dyes work best, which fiber contents work best ( cotton is a good starting point) and getting the over-all look to be what you envision - or just let your dye imagination loose.


Other links:
1. Paula Burch
2. Martha
3. Dizzy Lettuce
4. a.  Become a 4-H Leader
    b.  OSU Extension:4H

Inspiration

One of the blogs that seriously inspires me is running a contest to nominate someone you know who uses their crafting talents to help people in need.

I nominate Joan Vardenega. She is teaching 4-H sewing as well as cooking to a fantastic group of girls in Columbia County, Oregon (Warren/Scappoose).

She doesn’t have a web site or a blog (yet) but inspires me through phone calls and e-mail. The challenge to create has been raised through her thoughtful interest in not only what her local fabric store in St. Helen’s is promoting, what her girls inspire her to teach, and her knowledgeable feedback to what I am currently creating.

She loves to teach and is always ready to take on a challenge.

She recently completed theater curtains for a backyard theater.

With her 4-H girls, they recently embellished t-shirts with Bleaching, bleach pens, tie-dye and dip-dye.
With me, she recently came over to Canbyland to help me with organizing all my sewing crap into one dedicated sewing room.
She has recently completed teaching a series of garment sewing classes to quilters from her local fabric store, Fibers & Stitches.

Joanie raises the bar.

Thank you.

 

This is Pencil Girl's Tie-Dye T-shirt. Twisting Spirals.

This is the Towel bag Sewing challenge for the 4-H Girls. They were given the sample and the materials and had to figure out how to make the Towel Bag.

Many ripped out seams later, they figured out they needed to make the pocket first.
--After figuring out the measurements.
--Don't forget to attach the straps.

Here is the full-size towel with bag attached. All folds up into the bag and the bag has room for other beach or swimming pool necessities.