The next technique I tried is called Kumo Shibori, or “spider web” shibori where the fabric is bound around a small pebble or marble. This is why I call it experimenting because I don’t know enough yet to end up with something similar a second time! The square plastic also left a unique design. I also don’t know how I got the variation of shading, but I do like it.
![accordion method half square triangles accordion method half square triangles](https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8499/8273511624_b90dd0002f.jpg)
In the next one I used a broken square plastic leg from a shelf and wrapped the towel around it in the same way as the PVC pipe (I thought!) I am not really sure what I did different from the previous one, but there was less fabric and I probably put it on without twisting as I wrapped. I really like the crazy lines this technique left on the dyed fabric.
![accordion method half square triangles accordion method half square triangles](https://www.ozquilts.com.au/images/thumbnails/700/700/detailed/78/slotted_trimmer_b2_image_with_label_reduced.jpg)
I put rubber bands on the ends to make sure my string stayed in place as I was pushing the fabric down. This next technique is called Arashi Shibori, or “storm” shibori (which makes sense when you see the finished product!) Starting with a short piece of PVC pipe I wrapped the flour sack towel around the pipe, winding string around the fabric and scrunching the fabric down every few inches. (I forgot to take a pre-dye picture of this one!) This time I folded the towel accordion style starting at one corner in a fan shape and then folded that strip accordion style as well. The shape of the clips only show up well on the outer edges. I also put two rubber bands around the middle. The next towel was also folded accordion style both directions and then secured on each end with binder clips. Since this was a smaller towel, with less folds, the apple shapes showed up fairly well on the finished piece. I folded this towel in the same way as above, and used wooden apple shapes on each side of the folded piece. This technique is called Itajime Shibori, or “fold and clamp” shibori in which a resist is formed by shaped objects compressing the fabric. As you can see in the photo of the dyed towel, the areas compressed by the lids did not absorb the dye.
![accordion method half square triangles accordion method half square triangles](https://www.kathleenmcmusing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Looking2BBack2BVintage2BQuilt.jpg)
In the first experiment, I placed matching hard plastic lids on both sides of the folded piece and secured the lids with several rubber bands. I folded the fabric back and forth accordion style and then folded that long strip in an accordion fold. The simplest technique was an accordion fold. You can find many videos about shibori dyeing on YouTube. I will show you each piece before dyeing and then how it turned out. Sorry, I was in experiment mode and not tutorial mode, so I did not take pictures of the steps I took along the way. Since I did not have indigo dye available, I used Rit navy blue dye. ( I shared how I used some of them for embroidery a while back.) I folded, tied, stitched, bound, compressed, and wrapped them first and then dyed them all together. Traditionally, the fabrics were dyed in indigo, a natural blue dye from plants, but today a variety of dye colors are used.įor a quick history of this beautiful form of art and craftmanship, read this post, and this post.įor my first adventure in shibori dyeing, I decided to use the rest of the cotton flour sack dish towels I had from my grandparents. Each technique forms a resist for the dye which forms the patterns. Shibori actually has as many as 15 different techniques to achieve unique beautiful patterns depending on how the fabric is folded, tied, stitched, bound, compressed, or wrapped.
![accordion method half square triangles accordion method half square triangles](https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MKoNy5jdEBk/Wt4TJvTrdOI/AAAAAAAAHXY/ZI518S_vC9QKTPoJopUWx1DJyovwl-FHACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/fullsizeoutput_10b6.jpeg)
Some might call it tie-dye, but when I think of tie-dye, I see in my head bright neon colored t-shirts with some sort of circular pattern of colors. Shibori is an ancient Japanese art form of making designs on fabric. When I returned home, I looked it up online and became fascinated with the history and many techniques of shibori dyeing, determined to some day give it a try. As we visited, she told me she dyed the scarf using the shibori method. Well, that was a new word for me and after explaining quickly how she wraps the fabric around a pole before dyeing it, I asked her to spell “shibori” for me so I wouldn’t forget. Last fall I purchased a beautiful silk scarf from a crafter.