Wrap Yourself In A Freestyle Waffle (A Waffle Weave Blanket Story)

The Freestyle Find

I found a free waffle-weave cotton blanket as part of a neighborhood clean-out event.  It was an odd sort of pale yellow-green, not cream, not yellow, not white, just enough of a color to make you doubt your eyesight.  Lucky for me there were no holes or rips, just that odd color....

Blanket (bottom) next to a white t-shirt (top),
see what I mean about the weird color?

The blanket had MANY snags (pulled threads) in it, as I imagine is a common hazard of the waffle weave with its raised boxy texture. Naturally my first task was to machine wash and dry the blanket -- and specifically to dry it in the machine on high heat in order to shrink it in case it ever goes in the dryer in future.  Then on to the snags!

Tying and cutting the loose threads was sort of like a little treasure hunt...

Scissor cutting a thread pull

The Restyle

I decided that the key makeover element for this odd color blanket was a dye job, good thing I had randomly acquired a large plastic bin (no lid) that would fit inside the tub and could hold this blanket.  I used RIT brand dye in Dark Green

RIT dye package, dark green

Here is the blanket while taking a dye bath, the color looked quite dark while wet.

Blanket in a tub of RIT Dark Green dye

I also used about half a bottle of the RIT Color Stay Dye Fixative in the fixative bath (after the blanket came out of the dye bath), this is supposed to help the color "stick" to the fabric.  Given the large surface area of this blanket, I should probably have used an entire bottle - but I only had half a bottle left.

Blanket in fixative bath with RIT ColorStay Dye Fixative

 

After the dye bath and the fixative bath the blanket went back into the washing machine for a 'real' wash to remove any unattached dye particles.  

Like a wet blanket

Conclusions

This is a LARGE blanket, and I think if I had wanted a true dark green to match the color on the box I would have needed another packet (or two?) of dye to get a saturated dark green, and probably a hotter dye bath as well.  But, in reality, I LOVE the seafoam green color that it acquired by the end of the process.

Here it is draped over a chair to display the length.

Blanket, post-dye

Blanket, post-dye job

The remaining small snags are still visible, more so when the sunlight hits at an angle while trying to get a good color photo.

Blanket in the sunlight with blue pillow

My phone camera doesn't do justice to the color, but what matters most is that it is still a great soft blanket for couch naps.  Mmmmmmm, couch naps.

Happy freestyling!

Mood Mirrored Indigo

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.

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.

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?

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).

Mirror mirror on the indigo blue pillowcase

Here are two detail shots that highlight the interesting diamond pattern embroidery.

Embroidery detail: angled view

Embroidery detail: front view

Happy freestyling, don't be afraid of a little elbow grease that might be needed to clean something and make it your own!