We ran a little late on the annual tie dye day this year, which ended up not being the worst thing because it wasn’t boiling hot! I dyed four things this year. The first two were thrifted garments. The denim shorts, originally white, were dyed with a special ice dye blend called Northern Lights.

The shorter dress was originally a light peach, and my inspiration photo for the color scheme had more of the peach showing, but I’m not at all mad that this turned out darker. It was a little too sheer for my comfort before. I used a navy, a purple (grape, I think?), and another ice dye blend called Rattlesnake.

The lace was a random spool of 100% cotton crocheted that I found in my stash, and I also did the Northern Lights on that. I thought the teal would pop out more, and I was originally thinking this for a top pattern I’ve had for years, the fabric I already have is a plain teal so I was thinking of embellishing for more interest. I may need to rethink that plan, depending on how this looks with it, but I still think it’s more likely to get used like this than in plain white.

For the first time since we started this tradition, I sewed one of my dyeing blanks! The maxi dress is the Sew Liberated Stasia pattern, lengthened by several inches, and I sewed it out of a bamboo rayon. I was trying to go for a geode dye pattern, which was not successful, I guess I didn’t pull the cording tight enough. I did succeed in the color scheme, though, since my intent was to have something else to pair with a favorite thrifted cardigan that I’ve only had about one top to wear with. (My daughter would not stay out of that photo.) I used avocado, an ice dye blend called Dragon’s Heart, teal (of course), chocolate brown, another green that I can’t remember the name of, and a sprinkle of ivory over it all. I have something like a yard to 1 1/4 left of the fabric, so I’ll probably be able to come up with a top for next year!