The Find
Textiles can be a tricky freestyle find, there is always a question of the lurking unseen microbial presence on whatever fabric has been sitting outside, unattended, for some amount of time. And of course, things on the curb could always fall victim to a lifted dog leg. But if something is small enough to go STRAIGHT INTO THE WASHING MACHINE upon arrival at home, well, then, I feel pretty good. I've stayed in hotels, how different could it be? Now that you've read my thoughts on freestyle textile find hygiene, let me tell you about ... a freestyle textile find!
I came across this cool pillow cover (with separate insert) embellished with numerous tiny mirrors, one of a few options in a giveaway box at the end of someone's driveway. So much sewing detail, possibly done by hand - I appreciate such work. There is no tag on the pillowcase, but the fabric felt like cotton, so I immediately had an idea for a makeover.
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| Freestyle pillow find on curb |
The Makeover
I had an existing dye bath setup from some exploratory home-shibori fun in the color Indigo, and the dye type was one for natural fibers. So after a hot wash in the washing machine, the pillowcase went into the dye bath to sit for a while and (hopefully) absorb as much dye as possible. Without any fiber information I wasn't sure how the results would look, but as a hedge I let the pillowcase sit in the dye bath for a long time. As in, it sat in the dye bath for multiple weeks. I also decided to order some dye fixative, since my previous shibori experiments had faded quickly without this critical ingredient. Lesson learned.
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| Ingredients used to dye pillowcase |
This is what the mirrored pillowcover looked like when it finally came out, lots of deep indigo color. But would it hold?
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| After the dye bath |
There were hopeful signs that the dye fixative had done as promised since the color was dark even after rinsing the textile in cold water until the water ran clear. But the true test is always the washing machine.
Conclusion
The indigo color held up well after a washing machine cycle, so I'm calling it a success. Here it is, minimally 'styled' on a couch with two other throw pillows (yes, they were free too, the complimentary colors are a coincidence).
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| Mirror mirror on the indigo blue pillowcase |
Here are two detail shots that highlight the interesting diamond pattern embroidery.
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| Embroidery detail: angled view |
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| Embroidery detail: front view |