Club Indigo

If you have ever taken a dye class with me you are welcome to join Club Indigo.

I will open up my indigo vats on the first Sunday of every month in the dye studio at the Electric Needle from 11 am to 3 pm.

This is NOT a class. I will be dyeing but will be happy as always to give you my advice. If you want to work in shibori or batik, you are welcome to, but I can’t help a ton as my hands will be blue. Books, resources and tools will be available.

Bring your own fabric – limited to about 5 yards of fabric a club day. All fabric MUST be made of natural fibers. The Electric Needle is closed on Sunday so there will NOT be availability to purchase fabric on club days.

Pre-registration is required. After you have registered you will receive an email explaining how to join us.

The registration fee includes a minimum of 2 hours of dye time and 1/2 hour for clean up.

Be advised the dye studio is in the basement, you will need to be able to navigate a flight of steps to get to the studio. If this is impossible for you please call so we can arrange a private lesson.

Deep Into Indigo Retreat

Deep Into Indigo Retreat

A creative weekend getaway including: All food, beverages and lodging plus piles of fabric and paper to play with, unlimited access to prepared indigo dye vats, and gifts and prizes all for one low price!

Join a us at a creative indigo dye retreat in Westby, Wisconsin.  Located about two hours from Madison Wisconsin, you’ll be able to shed the grind of your daily life, and immerse yourself in the study and play of dyeing with indigo.

Shibori Class at The Electric Needle

Come and learn several traditional Shibori folding techniques.

We will not be dyeing anything during this class but rather focusing on the folding, wrapping and stitching techniques.

We will be experimenting with a variety of Shibori techniques to make beautiful patterns on fabric.

The fabric bundles you take home from class can be dyed at a future time. There will be an indigo dye class for you to dye your bundles on Saturday, November 18th, but it’s not required.

We will Shibori as much fabric as we have time for and there will be plenty of time for Q&A with Jennifer. You will leave with enough knowledge to continue on your own at home.

Six fat quarters of prepared quilting cotton will be included.  Feel free to bring additional fabric, which must be made from natural fibers.

Students also taking the indigo dye class can take home Jennifer’s dye tools and return them after the November 18th class.

Indigo Dyeing at Millhouse Quilts

Join me for a hands on exploration in the basics of dyeing with a natural indigo vat.

I will touch on the history and science of indigo and explore several shibori resist techniques.

Sign up here!

We always have fun in my classes!

You will leave with four cotton fat quarters that you have patterned in the rich blue for which indigo is famous.

Please wear old clothes and shoes and bring one pair of rubber gloves and a plastic bag for carrying your work home.

All other materials will be provided. Feel free to bring along a tee shirt to dye – it must be made of natural fibers.

The class will meet outside.  Rain Date is September 9th.

Doodle on Fabric: Wax batik and indigo dye

Learn to make pattern and design using soy wax as a resist on your fabric, then dye in the indigo vat.

We will doodle and print on fabric with non-toxic soy wax to make quilting fabric ready for you to make your one of a kind quilt.

Soda ash treated fabric available for purchase at the shop for use in class.

Wax and all other tools are provided.

You’ll dye your patterned fabric in a magical indigo dye vat. Dress in clothes (and shoes!) that can be stained blue.

Dip into Shibori & Indigo Dyeing at Blue Bar Quilts

No fabric dyeing experience is required. Learn the fundamentals of Japanese Shibori techniques and indigo dyeing.

Shibori means to fold, clamp, stitch or in some way block off fabric to create patterns when the fabric is dyed.
We’ll be experimenting with a variety of shibori techniques to make beautiful patterns.

Then, you’ll dye your patterned fabric in an indigo dye vat. Feel free to bring along a tee shirt (natural fibers only) to dip into the vat.

Dress in clothes and shoes that can get stained blue.

o Learn about Indigo chemistry and history
o Experiment with basic Shibori techniques
o Fabric will be provided: 4 fat quarters (approximately 18’ X 22’ pieces) of cotton fabric to learn with
o You’ll get ample time to dye your fabric in an indigo dye vat.

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Botanical Colors FTW

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.

Henna vat samples. Both had one dip. The one one the left was tested on the first day, the one on the right was dipped the second day. Henna vats work best a few days after they’re made.

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!!

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Sponsor: The Regal Find

Get to know the Deep Into Indigo Retreat Sponsors!

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 Regal Find in downtown Middleton, WI is a cute, charming, welcoming, warm, delightful, sweet, gift shop (There are truly not enough descriptors in the sentence…it’s a really awesome spot).

They happen to carry some of my indigo dyed pieces there.  Specifically, they have my cute little dainty things like baby stuff (hats, sockies, onseies), ‘kerchiefs and dishtowels, scarves and doggies shirts.

They also carry lots of fabulous gifty things with WI themes, sassy sayings and great taste and humor.  They offer creative workshops for kids and adults.  We really have many of the same priorities: creativity, fun and good food; they are attached to Bloom Bake Shop!

The sweet owner, Jessica Regele, is sending us gifts for our gift baskets: every retreat attendee gets one!

You really need to check this place out.

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Two Days Of Early Bird!

TWO DAYS LEFT!! For Deep Into Indigo Retreat Early Bird Pricing. Come and play with us. You’ll learn how to dye with indigo, shibori and batik as well as just have fun and chill with creative women.

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Indigo Update!

Deep Into Indigo Retreat Westby Wisconsin Shibori

My plan for the Deep Into Indigo Retreat is to teach shibori techniques of many kinds, batik techniques and how to make henna, fructose and iron vats and to dye, dye dye!!! And also to -with the help of the awesome Jenina Mella - feed people well in a beautiful and warm environment and bring the fun!! I hope you'll join us. Early bird pricing ends on June 15th!!! Check my bio for the link. Today, I'm dyeing fat quarters on this beautiful summer day. #blog | June 08, 2017 at 11:04AM
My plan for the Deep Into Indigo Retreat is to teach shibori techniques of many kinds, batik techniques and how to make henna, fructose and iron vats and to dye, dye dye!!! And also to – with the help of the awesome Jenina Mella – feed people well in a beautiful and warm environment and bring the fun!!

I hope you’ll join us. Early bird pricing ends on June 15th!!! 

Today, I’m dyeing fat quarters on this beautiful summer day. #blog