Tie Dye Drapes

Today I did it. I measured, washed, folded and dyed cotton canvas drop cloths for dining room drapes! I decided to do this first as a way to get more material into the room to absorb sound. Without carpet, and with a lot of floor and wall, and wood furniture, the room is very "live". When we all sit at the table for morning prayer or dinner I have to be kind of strict to keep everybody quiet enough for me to stay sane! I would love to have some kind of beautiful, handmade "world" artisan fabric for drapes. Batik or something else earthy and textured and full of depth. But, have you priced fabric lately?! Yeah, no budget for fabulous fabric. So, I decided to research making some. Not sure where the idea came from at first, but i ended up watching a lot of videos on YouTube about how to tie dye! I researched drop cloths, too. And dye colors. Boy, I love Christmas break and this iPad. Anyway, I will link to the tie dye videos I liked the best. I bought 4x12 foot drop cloths from Harbor Freight. They are cotton, and have four finished edges! Did I mention how much I like projects with limited sewing? I like to sew, but I like to scheme ways to keep things as simple as possible. Results, that's what I want! So, four 4x12 foot panels for two windows. I want the drapes to touch the floor, and be mounted pretty high. But I did have to trim off about 16 inches. That will be the edge I sew for the rod pocket. The bottom has a simple rolled hem, and the other two edges are selvedge. Yay! I used Rit dyes in Royal and Denim blues. I tested their Navy blue on an old canvas tote bag, but it came out looking too purple. I tested my planned tying technique on that tote, and it was a good thing. I loved the pattern, but not the purpleness. And I found that when I folded the material more than double, the dye did not go through at all. Here should be a pic of my experiment: So I found I had to adapt my folding for this heavy material. I folded in half, instead of again into quarters, then did the curved guidelines for the "fish scales" pattern here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ude0HGhvFpY I have to show photos now! Tomorrow...