Another rescue project

Yesterday (30 July) was World Embroidery Day, so naturally I took the opportunity to sit down with some stitching. Specifically, to have another go at the embroidery which I accidentally trashed a while ago.

The problem

Enough time has passed for me to feel a bit calmer about it. Plus, I noticed that the Ukrainian company from whom I bought the frame* for the project have, after a break, reopened their Etsy shop. It struck me that if they can continue to operate during a war, I really ought to get over myself and my colour-run failure.

Various attempts at washing out the leached colour had changed it from pink to a sort of tan, so I decided to try tea-dyeing the piece. I've never done this before but, as with the re-do of my two-tone Vintage Vogue dress, I figured that it couldn't make things any worse. If it dyed to an even colour, then hopefully the previous marks would disappear altogether, and even if I ended up with a mottled effect, then they would blend in.

Shadows of the lettering were left, even after several washes

I followed these instructions, and steeped the teabags for 10 minutes. Then I poured the 'tea' into the lid of a Pyrex casserole dish. This meant that I could lay the area to be dyed flat without any crumpling. I pressed the cloth firmly into the liquid, to remove any air bubbles and to make sure that the whole area remained submerged. Unfortunately, I was so busy concentrating that I forgot to take any in-progress pictures!

When I took the piece out, it was a deeper colour than I wanted - even allowing for wet fabric looking darker. However I was able to rinse some of the tea out, and I then put the cloth in the vinegar/salt/water solution to set the colour.

The end result was pretty much the colour I'd envisaged, and the marks were completely invisible - result! I chose a greenish-brown thread for the lettering, as this went best with the new colour scheme. It's not that obvious in the photo, but there was a real colour difference between the dyed area (within the frame) and the white fabric round the edges which hadn't been in the tea.

Set up for stitching

I did all this prep on Friday, including re-marking the lettering. So yesterday, all I had to do settle down to sew for a few hours (oh, the hardship!).

Re-embroidered

The dyeing process seems to have raised the texture of the cotton fabric, and given it quite a rustic look. The frame did come with a circle of clear plastic sheet, but I decided that the effect was too flattening (visually, not literally), so left it off.

Close-up texture image

And here is the end result. Obviously it's not quite what I originally intended, and I haven't yet decided where to hang it for maximum effect, but since its whole point was to remind myself to actually do things, I’m glad that I got it done.

The end result

* - I have bought circular wooden frames in the past, but they seem very hard to get hold of now. The shop, RukoJob, offers them in a variety of woods and sizes, and the one I bought is beautifully made.