Transforming a Thrift Store Handkerchief - Part 1



I started with a hanky I bought at a thrift store or flea market. The handkerchief was actually a bit yellower than this picture and had lacy edges in a variegated thread. I covered the lace hoping to add a  little color from the paint but not a lot.

I added some color using Dye-Na-Flow paint, put some coins on top, and left it in the sun to dry.

Dye-Na-Flow is a heat set paint and when the sun dries it, the paint is sucked out of the covered areas into the areas hit by sunlight. The wrinkled areas resulted in color variations, too.

I made a sun-shaped stencil out of freezer paper and ironed it to the handkerchief. I need to iron freezer paper on the back. Then I will stencil it with a lemon yellow paint.

This is a work in progress. I still plan to stencil paint on and stitch thread around the stenciled design. Also, I am thinking of adding a spiral to the middle of the sun maybe in red. Someday this may be part of a lovely purse.



This site has some neat examples of sun dyeing
http://luannkessi.blogspot.com/2010/08/sun-dyeing-results-continued.html

I learned about sun dyeing in a book called "The Found Object" by Cas Holmes.

I learned about freezer paper stencils in "Reinvention - Sewing With Rescued Materials" by Maya Donenfeld.

I've been experimenting with tie dyeing, rust dyeing, flour paste resists, homemade stamps and other techniques and I hope to share the results with you soon.