Melody Gould – Project #2

I adore the eco printing done by India Flint @prophet_of_bloom, Louise Upshall @gumnutmagic, and Ellie Beck @petalplum and knew I wanted to do some eco printing on a dress I upcycled for myself. When I stumbled across this tablecloth at a flea market I knew it was meant to be the skirt part of a dress. However, I couldn’t find something I wanted to use for the top. I stumbled across Christa of @wildchildfibers and love the look and simplicity of the lines within her work and decided to use a simple tank top for the base of the top of my dress. Before doing any sewing, I scrunched both pieces (the tablecloth and tank top) up and wrapped them in rubber bands and then gave them an overnight tea bath. It resulted in a pretty, but alas plain finish. And since the top and bottom ended up 2 different shades, I actually put aside the project for a bit. Then inspiration struck while I was eco-printing some tea towels. I sew up my dress and then eco-printed it. I did not use a mordant, since it had already been tea dyed and vinegar dipped. I wet it, laid out a bunch of various leaves from my yard including black walnut, rose, and maple plus some dried onion skins bits sprinkled all over. Then rolled it as tightly as possible, wrapped it up with cotton string and steamed it for just under 2 hours. I like the way it turned out, however, I do think I’m going to over-dye it again with around round of eco-printing. We’ll see.