Gradations of Color

Color is always a challenge for quilters; finding just the right hue, in the exact value or saturation often makes us want to simply dye our own. With that in mind, a dozen or so quilters gathered at Nancy Granner's home for a lesson on dyeing fabrics. Nancy demonstrated the process of gradation dyeing,i.e, one hue produced in various values or intensities. Nancy mixed the dye and gradually diluted the mixture in six stages. As we sat and stirred the dyepots, it reminded me of Shakespeare's witches o'er their brew..., "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble". While we aren't exactly witches, we certainly did cackle as we saw the colors develop. It was amazing to see how some fabrics take up the dye differently. In the picture you can see how the white on white took less color than the simple cottons even though they were processed in the same batch, same pots over the same time. Top the morning off with incredible treats, individuals showing their works in progress, and the report that 150 quilts sewn by Pam's group of quilters were shipped to Japan. It doesn't get any better than this.