Quilting and dyeing

This month of November marks the ‚real’ beginning of my small business for hand-dyed fabrics, the central component of which right now is a bi-monthly fabric club .

Preparations had been going on since July, when my friend Regine and I spent a week together, assembling systematic dye charts from three colours. With these, we hoped to be able to arrive at (more) predictable dyeing results. In the end, it just seemed natural that those possibilities should be offered to others as well.

I had been thinking about a fabric club for hand-dyed fabrics off and on for several years after I had met the concept of fabric clubs when I had subscribed to one from a fabric store in California. I know about Bonnie Bucknam’s fabric club  for hand-dyed fabrics and have bought inspiring packages from her, Bonnie does a wonderful job with her colors. Then last October I got to know a representative for a fabric line, who told me about prices and accessibility of pfd-fabrics. And then, finally, that week of dyeing little bits and pieces, the hottest week of the year, we felt like we were ironing in the sauna!

I started a blog just two days ago, in which I plan to report for customers and interested observers on various developments as that fabric club evolves. The current plan for this business is geared toward the German-speaking community of aficionados for hand-dyed fabrics, which led to  the decision for a blog in German. However, dyeing is not the only form that my addiction to fabrics takes, which originally includes many wonderful hours of making quilts.

Modern quilts – art quilts – contemporary quilts, call them whatever you like. In order to make these quilts I started dyeing my own fabrics several years ago. Trials and errors, successful color combinations, experiments, and not a few attempts at overdyeing not-so-pleasing results were part of the was. I took a dyeing class with Heide Stoll-Weber, and a class in printing with Ann Johnston. But mostly I am self-taught.

My studio is full of boxes of hand-dyed fabrics. They are the back-bone to my art, which I would like to share with you in future postings.