Using Tea as Dye

 Hello Readers. There are so many natural sources of fabric dye, let's try using tea and see what color we get. I am using tea bags in a large pan on my stove. Most people have these supplies so this is something you can try at home too. 

 Before and after. 

 I wanted to dye this white cotton dress. It is a lightweight gauzy material and cotton is a natural fiber that usually takes dye very well. I thought it would take the brown color of the tea well too.  

I used some Barry's Tea that I had in my pantry. This is my favorite tea to drink and I was really curious about how it would dye the dress. Would the dark brown color really stay in the fabric or would it be lighter? I thought it would be a lighter brown color, more of a tan color when it was all said and done, but I wasn't sure. I decided to try it and see what would happen.You can use any tea bags you have in your kitchen.

 I heated up some water on my stove in a large stock pot. When it was simmering, I added my tea bags. I used about 15 tea bags. I wanted the water to be really dark so that the dress could sit in that dark tea color. The steam made this picture a bit blurry. 

I stirred and "cooked" my dress for about 40 minutes. When using fabric dye, it is important to stir and keep the tea dress moving to get an even color. The longer the dress sits in the tea, the darker it will be. 

When I put the dress into the washer to wash off the excess tea I could see that the color was an oatmeal color. I liked that better than the stark white the dress was originally. 

When my dress was fully washed, I put it into the dryer. I dried the dress and waited to see the color when it was finished.

 

This simple dress was a much warmer off-white/tan color now. I liked how the tea worked and it is non-toxic and environmentally friendly too. 

 

 I dyed this dress for my daughter and she really liked the color it became. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too Big Dress

 Hello Readers. Sometimes clothes are fabulous and just need a little change to make them work. This linen dress was so nice.

 Before and after. 

  I love linen because it is a natural fiber and breathes so well. This dress was a bit shapeless on me. It was a size or two too big. I wanted it to work for me without messing up the pockets. I love pockets. Those need to stay put. 

 I decided to sew elastic around the waistline to create a waist in the dress. it would give the dress a little more flattering shape and still be comfortable. And my pockets would be safe.  

The elastic made a gentle gathered waistband. It doesn't disturb the wild pattern of the fabric, which I loved, It just gives me a waist. That shape looks best on me. The best detail for me is that the pockets are not removed or changed with this elastic fix. I didn't want to lose my pockets.

 

 This dress is so fun and I love the warm colors. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.  

 

Make Your Yard Bird Friendly

 Hello Readers. Spring has arrived and it makes me want to get outside and enjoy fresh air and all that Mother Nature has to offer. I have a little backyard that is my little piece of the earth to enjoy. I try to make it comfortable for humans and small animals. I enjoy hearing and watching the birds (And squirrels.) in the trees. I wanted to help them feel at home to enhance my backyard and make it feel more like a little patch of the great outdoors.  

Enjoy nature and welcome the birds in your yard.  

To welcome the birds I thought the most important thing to have is snacks. Bird snacks. Humans of all kinds love snacks and animals do too. Some birdseed would go a long way to bring the birds into the yard so I can watch them and hear them sing. But I did not have any bird feeders.

  

I gathered some dishware. You can go thrifting or search in your kitchen cabinets. There are usually a few items that are not used often or at all. Teapots, teacups, pie dishes, gravy boats can all be used in your yard as bird feeders and watering containers. Let me show you what I did in my yard. 

I poured some birdseed into my teapot but it isn't going to sit on a tray or a table. It was going to be up on it's side and hang it up in a tree. 

By standing the tea pot on it's side like this it makes an opening that the birds can fly into and the rim gives the birds a place to land and take some seeds.

I blocked the spout of the tea pot with some self-adhesive foam pads. I use these under vases and pottery but they work here too. I just wanted to keep the seed from spilling out of the spout when it is hung up.

These pads. (Similar here.) were easy to stick in the spout but you could also use tape or a cork. Anything to block the spout of the teapot. 

 

The seeds are all together just inviting a bird to come have lunch. The handle of the teapot makes it easy to hang on a branch of the tree. I used a shower curtain ring to connect the handle of the teapot to the tree branch. 

You can also use an S-hook like I did with this gravy boat. It is a bit smaller than the teapot but holds seed and has enough space for a bid to sit and eat.  

I also added a tea cup. It fit right on the short branch by itself. A bird can have a delicious snack here.  

 If you do not have a place to hang a feeding dish, you can use a pie pan. Set it out to invite some bird friends to come eat...

 Or drink. Water is great to put out even if you do not have any seed to share. In the heat of summer birds can be desperate for some fresh drinking water.  

If you do not have a pie dish to use, these aluminum pans are very inexpensive. I added a large stone to help weigh this pan down. I didn't want it to blow around in the breeze. 

The lantern/candle holder can be useful too. I filled mine with small fabric scraps. The birds and squirrels can grab these tiny pieces to help build a nest. The open sides of this lantern make it easy to grab pieces easily.   

I added all of these to a tree in my yard and hope to make some bird friends soon. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself, or your backyard friends. 

 

Maxi-Dress to Maxi-Skirt

 Hello Readers. I love maxi length dresses and skirts. But I am short (5") so maxi length is always too long on me. I have to make my own maxi length. This yellow floral dress was perfect for that. 

 Before and after. 

 

I loved the fun bright yellow, but the top was painfully, obscenely tight and the skirt of the dress was so long it dragged on the floor.  

I cut the top of the dress off. I couldn't fix it, so it had to go. I thought the middle of the dress would make a great waist band because...  

The back of the dress had a lot of elastic shirring. That would keep the waistband fitted around my waist. 

 

I turned the edge under and used a zigzag stitch down to make it look nice and neat.

 

 When I cut away all the extra fabric from the middle and sewed the edge, it looked like this on the front.  

 

And this in the back. You can see the elastic shirring and the zigzag stitch I used to keep the cut edge tucked in.
 

I needed to shorten this new skirt. I cut about 6 inches off the skirt. 

 

I gave the skirt a new hem around the bottom of the skirt so that it was nice and neat. 

 

I wanted to wear the skirt with t-shirt in a casual way. 

 

 I found a great yellow t-shirt to wear with the skirt. This skirt was so comfortable and I love the bright color. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 

 

 

 

The Shrunken Lining

 Hello Readers. I found this beautiful linen dress at a thrift store when I went to the beach last year. I love blue and white, so I thought this dress was great. And linen is breathable and perfect for summer. I brought it home and I washed it. Guess what, it shrunk. It also had a synthetic lining that did not shrink.

  Before and after. 

I loved this material but I was stuck on all the problems this dress seemed to have. The dress had shrunk but the yucky synthetic lining didn't. The lining was bigger and hung lower than the dress. I also could not button the top of the dress anymore because it was too small. That was going to be a problem.  

I consulted with a sewing expert for advice. (My Daughter.) She had good advice.

 

I cut that lining out of the dress. I hate synthetic fabrics because they are hot and I wanted the linen to be light and breathable. The lining had to go.

 

I ironed the edges into the dress. Removing the lining left a raw cut edge. 

 

I sewed the edges into the dress so that the outside looked nice and neat. 
 

I decided the whole dress was too long for me so I gave it a big cut in length. 

 

I gave the shorter dress a new hem and it was nicely finished.

 

 I liked it worn open over this blue dress.  

 

 I also thought it would be great as a duster over jeans and a shirt. There are so many possibilities. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.