Indigo Dyeing

At the last Designing Women meeting Dorothy set up an Indigo dye bath for us all to try. None of us had done this before. It was a cool day and Dorothy set it up on the verandah. She used the pre-reduced Indigo which requires Sodium Hydrosulphite and Soda Ash to be added to the mix. I was busy while Dorothy set up so I didn't see that part. Once everyone else had dyed their prepared silk scarves I put in 2 blouses I had rescued from the Op Shop. This silk blouse was originally the palest of pale pinks and the linen/cotton blouse was originally an extremely pale khaki colour. They both fitted me well but I didn't like the colours. When I bought them I thought I would save them for a dyeing opportunity - and this was it :-) I put them in once only for about 2 minutes. I've since found out that to get even colour you put them in, then remove them for 15-20 mins and reimmerse them, repeating as often as necessary to get darker and more even coverage. I actually wanted the blotchy look so I was quite happy with the results. The stitching was obviously a sythetic thread on the linen blouse but I think it looks quite decorative. I will replace the stitching which holds the 2 lace panels together at the front though. It did take a lot of rinsing remove excess dye. I think these are definitely "wearable". They are displayed here on "Freda" - my duct tape dress making dummy.