The Monona Library Mending Day, developed by The Sewing Machine Project will be held on the second Sunday of the month (Sept to May) from 2-4 pm.
Bring in your loved but worn clothes for mending …or get a head start on freshening up your wardrobe with some trim and buttons. It’s free!
Our wonderful volunteers will hem, mend, and patch items for people. Some restrictions apply and mending is done on a first come basis.
Thanks to Kathy Hattori from Botanical Colors for sharing the chemicals for three different kinds of organic indigo vats at the Deep Into Indigo Retreat. I attended a workshop day in her studio in the spring and I learned so much. She’s really awesome; generous with her expertise, time and supplies.
For starters, you gotta hydrate that indigo before it goes into the vat. The directions often call for shaking it in a jar with water and marbles but a whisk is just easier and works as well.
We made an iron vat, a henna vat and a fructose vat. Like most things I get into, I made lots of really awesome messes and mistakes.
But that didn’t slow us down at all.
Here’s a dip from the iron vat.
To see if the dye is ready, you check under the flower to see if it’s clear and not at all blue-ish.
We put our fabric in stainless steel baskets to keep it from getting stained by the sludge at the bottom. Also, the liquid was hot and we didn’t want to keep our hands in there.
Oops. Here’s my favorite mistake of the weekend. I made a fructose vat. I tripled the recipe but didn’t triple the container size so it made a pretty awesome mess. Like a kid’s volcano experiment but deeply blue!
I scraped it into the vat and it still worked. Just a little unexpected adventure. And, yes, I did give myself a blue mustache.
There was definitely an “Organic Vat Posse” among the participants. I also had some pre-reduced indigo crystals from Dharma Trading Company for people to dye with but these ladies were super into the organic vats.
The whole process of using organic vats is really enticing. It smells way better too.
You can learn more about it on the Botanical Colors website. Like I said, Kathy is very generous with her knowledge and, along with really high quality dye stuff, her website is chock full of tutorials and advice.
Haley Hundt took all of these gorgeous pictures. She did such a fantastic job!!
We have a few and really want to thank them and ask for you to check them out. They are all super awesome and have so much to offer!
We are huge fans of Quilt Basket n’ Creations. It’s local to Viroqua and we hope everyone joining is stops by to shop. We just walked in off the street last year and asked Carol, the owner, to sponsor the retreat and she was super open and welcoming.
QBNC has loads of fabric and notions..I’m a sucker for notions and pick something up every time we stop by.
They have sponsored the Deep Into Indigo Retreat with a bolt of sexy linen-cotton blend. It was the belle of the ball at last year’s retreat.
We have a few and really want to thank them and ask for you to check them out. They are all super awesome and have so much to offer!
I was lucky enough to go out to Seattle to learn from Kathy Hattori of Botanical Colors last spring. My luggage never arrived and she was especially nice to me considering I stunk and wore the same clothes for three days straight.
I’ve been aware of her and have shopped from her for years. They carry many different kinds of natural dyes in addition to indigo. Check them out and tell them Jennifer sent you. 🙂
Kathy publishes Feedback Friday on their blog when they answer customer’s questions and also share many tutorials for free on how to use their various dyes.
She’s incredibly generous (both in person and online) with her knowledge and resources. Also with the Deep Into Indigo Retreat, she is sharing chemicals for us to experiment with three different kinds of organic vats! Thank you, Kathy and Botanical Colors. They are awesome!
We have a few and really want to thank them and ask for you to check them out. They are all super awesome and have so much to offer!
The first time I walked in to Lynn’s in Madison WI, I fell in love. It’s like a store made for textile loving, multi media, stitching artists. There’s a fabulous supply of perle cotton, wool, linen and every kind of fancy pants thread you would want, painting supplies, gelli plates, print making stuff, books and many, many things that I’m not thinking of tight now to fuel your creativity. Also, they frame art for you. I just really dig it there.
The people who work there are lovely too. They are sponsoring the Deep Into Indigo Retreat with a tasty bag of threads and beads for us to play with.
We have a few and really want to thank them and ask for you to check them out. They are all super awesome and have so much to offer!
Blue Bar Quilts is a brand spanking new and totally awesome quilt shop in Middleton WI. They have a huuuuuge variety of fabrics, a giant classroom and (get ready for it) A DYE STUDIO!!!!!!!
They also carry my indigo dyed batiked and shibori-ed fat quarters and half yards in the front of the store. They have my tunics, dresses and shirts in their consignment gallery. They let me teach classes there too. They just do everything right. 🙂
They have a super busy class schedule with a huge variety of classes and just…everything a quilter or sewing person could need. They also happen to be super friendly, open, supportive people.
They’ve been kind enough to sponsor the Deep Into Indigo Retreat with my favorite quilting cotton to dye with: Moda Bella PFD.
And, yes, they do have an online store so you can order from them where ever you happen to be.
We have a few and really want to thank them and ask for you to check them out. They are all super awesome and have so much to offer!
Mill House Quilts in Waunakee WI is a gorgeous and very well stocked quilt shop in a giant restored feel mill.
I’ve both taken and taught classes there. They have great classrooms, tons of quilting fabrics, tons of notions and sewing machines, which they even repair.
They do sell online but if you go in, you get to meet their friendly, well behaved shop dog Chester.
Thanks to Kim and Kerry, the super friendly owners for sponsoring the Deep Into Indigo Retreat with the generous gift of a Bernette Sew N Go Retreat Ready Sewing Machine.
One of our lucky participants will win it as a door prize!
I was just digging through last year’s Deep Into Indigo Retreat photos. Lots of pictures here. We had such an awesome time!! June is almost here and it time to sign up for 2017!
I will be doing a live demo of wax batik. I’ll also have some indigo dyed batik and shibori fat quarters for sale at this handcrafted home and lifestyle goods made in the midwest. It’s a modern-mercantile style event. Convene to shop, browse, carouse, sample and seek. With the wares of midwest artisans, tastes of local small batch food and brews, and the ambient sounds and sights of music and live demos, there will be much to shop, explore and savor.
This is a free event open to all.
I will be at Quilt Basket n Creations on Tuesday, May 23 at 5:00pm. My presentation on making hand dyed accessories and fabrics as well as shibori & natural indigo dyeing. will last about 1 hour with time for questions following.
You are invited to join us for this free program.