Testing the Waters

Does anyone still use these? Asking for a friend.

Don't call it a comeback.

Just don't.

Back in Black.

So my main focus of this post is to explain how I managed to (somewhat) successfully dye a t-shirt black.

This doesn’t seem like it should be too hard. But as I found out earlier this year when I tried to dye a bunch of my old clothes black for my job (it's the uniform. Like the Model T, you can wear any color as long as it's black.) I found out that no matter how long I let them sit in the dye bath they would only come out as a splotchy grayish purple.

Now I have nothing against amethyst, it's one of my faves. But it didn't look so good when it was lightly tinting some chartreuse pieces.

I did everything according to the package. I mixed it with salt, used super hot water, weighed the fabric and clothes and soaked them in soda ash, all while spending six hours in the laundromat fighting hobos and college students for change and washer rights.

This was one of the shirts that came from that:

The pictures will continue to suck until I can find my camera.

It used to be heather gray, but like so many “gangsters” from Boca Raton, FL, it wanted to be black.

So here’s my method. You will need:

The t-shirt

A bottle of liquid black dye (for cotton/natural fibers)

A LARGE Ziploc bag

Some tape

A stainless sink

Preferably a plastic hanger

A spot in the back yard to hang it

Step 1

Get the shirt evenly wet. Resist the urge to ring it out as that can cause variations in color.

Step 2

Loosely fold it and place it in the bag. Fold it as little as possible, but don’t just wad it up and throw it in the bag either.

Step 3

Apply the dye straight from the bottle. Don’t prepare the dyebath, but add a little water if you feel like there is not enough for the shirt to, er, marinate.

Step 4

Carefully zip up the bag and tape over the top and any weak corners.

Step 5

LEAVE IT TO BAKE IN THE MERCILESS FLORIDA SUN.

Leave it alone for at least a few hours. Honestly when I did this project I forgot about it and left it out for about a day. Don’t worry. The Florida moon is pretty mean too.

Step 6

If you hadn’t donned gloves already, this is probably the time to do so. I’m lazy, so I usually forget, but then I try to wear it like a badge of pride at the department store I work at to say “I don’t need you to be fashionable!”(Let’s ignore the fact that I originally bought the shirt there.)

Open the bag and drain the dye back into its bottle (recycle!). Remove the shirt, DON’T RING IT OUT, and hang it up to dry.

Most home dyes aren’t too harmful on the environment. A lot of it is just different forms of salt, so it WILL kill your plants, and you shouldn’t eat it or get it on your pets. But if you let your shirt drip dry and then hose off the area it’s not gonna kick you in the butt with a carbon footprint.

Step 7

Once it’s dry, wash it like you normally would BEFORE YOU WEAR IT. It might be a little blotchy, but if it really bugs you, pour some of the dye in a spray bottle and spritz the problem areas. Make sure to let them dry and then wash it again.

And then party like a Rockstar!

Speaking of Rockstars, I sure feel like one after working with my first non-familial client, who is also a Rockstar. She asked me to shorten a haltertop that she planned to wear for her BIKER WEDDING, which I thought was incredibly rad. Even though all I did was trim and hem it for her, I still feel super accomplished and excited. She should be getting married this weekend, and I wish her all the best!

I need to sew more...

Well, I have been sewing actually, but just not making any record of it.

So for the record...



I have been making these shirts like crazy. they're so easy, and I live in Florida, so these things are worn year round.
























I traded this bag for some M.A.C. eyeshadow.
























I made this shirt out of the leftover jersey from the yellow dress. My sister bought this too!

(Note: I did not make my sister pay for the dress and the shirt, rather, she FORCED me to take money from her for said items.)


Not pictured: a swimsuit I made out of another swimsuit (tutorial in progress) a neat green tote like the flower one, my first success working with black dye, and some awesome screen printing.







I will post more, but I had a rough day and my lappy is running low on battery. Keep an eye out ducklings!

Brain crave hot dog buns...

Life after No Carb Diet:

1. Eat 5 frosted mini wheats.

2. Take 8 hour nap.

I think I mentioned before that I lost about 60 lbs on my no-carb diet. But since I can no longer afford to go to the weightloss clinic that helped me do it (i.e. awesome hunger stopping drugs) I've been struggling to find a normal amount of carbs that will keep me full without knocking me out.

Curse you spaghetti! Why are you so good?!

In excellent news, my amazing husband nailed a job at a law firm as an intake clerk or something like that. He's explained it to me in detail, and It's not that I don't care enough to listen, it's just he tells me when the tv is on or when I just get home from a 10 hour shift.

I'm so proud of him. so proud that he is taking up this blog post where I originally intended to do another vest tutorial (a t-shirt surgery one) but now I'm hungry and tired and I think I've written enough for today.

I'll post it soon. promise.

Oh, and look at my etsy to see the new stuff I made! Some of it goes to charity.

I am so proud of this.

Dress I just finished for my sister Erica.

Vest tutorial

I know the people who actually shop on Etsy are just there to steal ideas, so let me make it a little easier for you.

Start with a piece of knit fabric about 40” long and measure out two big right triangles.


put the pieces together and sew a straight stitch along one of the legs of the triangle.

now comes the tricky part: MATH!!!!

Measure 18” up from the unsewn leg of the triangle and 10” the sewn leg. Mark where the two points meet and measure 3” out from the mark on all sides. or be a nerd like me and use a protractor.

pin the pieces together and cut out the circle.

Finish the sleeves and edges if you want, but it dosent need it.