Making a full kit in four months

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

Ok so he past few nights I've been throwing some half awake effort at prepping a natural dye batch for a sample swatch. The steps, as unthorough as they have been were as follows:

1) buy pound of black beans.. dump in container and cover with water. Refill as it gets absorbed. Let sit for 24 hours

2) buy small bottle of alum powder (which is in the spice section but I have no idea what food use it has). Boil water, pour boiling water over alumn powder and stir till dissolved. (I used .5 litre of water to about 3/4 tsp alumn, all non precise measures) While dissolving, strain beans out of water

3) soak fabric swatch on alumn water for about 20 minutes. Probably should have done longer but this seemed to be the minimum requirement.

4)rinsed mordant from fabric, threw it in the dryer so I didn't have to wait to dye it.

5)dipped it in the bean water, making sure fo swish and make sure everything got covered. Let it sit for 24 hours.

6) pulled out dyed fabric and rinsed a few times. Rinse didn't cause any run off and color looks pretty good.

Now sitting in the sun to dry.

[michaelsbagley]

I'm not a culinary expert, but I think allum is used in baking, especially with merangues or other things with lots of whipped egg as an agent to help preserve/prolong the frothing of the eggs (and likely other frothy things). I thinks it's universally optional, but some "more serious" bakers prefer it for the slightly improved results.

[madPete]

I remember my mom using alum when pickling cucumbers. It supposedly keeps the pickle firm. But I also read something about alum being toxic in large amounts.

Since those were black beans, I assume the dye is black or brown, or a dark gray? The color on my monitor looks like gray.

Congrats on the efforts to make dye from a natural source!

That is something I was researching because somewhere I read that there were no bright green natural dyes. There were natural green dyes, but not like we see today. They used the dyes for yellow and blue to get green. whether mixed dyes or separate dye steps, is unclear to me so far.

[madPete]

PS... DID you maked baked beans also? LOL

 

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

so here is the dried results....

I'm pretty pleased all things considered, especially since I was rather half assing the trial.  Moreso even then how well the dye took, I'm also pleased with the color and think it would go well with the color skirts I have (a consideration of vast import cause I don't want to have to have two separate Mantuas to coordinate)

17 hours ago, madPete said:

Since those were black beans, I assume the dye is black or brown, or a dark gray? The color on my monitor looks like gray.

Congrats on the efforts to make dye from a natural source!

It's a blueish grey....think maybe a slate color? Or maybe a It probably would have been more blue then grey if I had started with a bleached/white fabric. Using black beans can get your from a light blue grey to a truer blue to a dark version of those based on fabrics, mordants and dye times and pH levels. You can also even get it to be a purple tone if you change the ph on it with an acidic.  Apparently 

 

[madPete]

i have a good amount of white linen and thinking about dyeing some of it.

Have you run across a formula for blue and white checks? LOL

At the current time I'm undecided what color to dye it. My last shirt batch was just before Ft Gaines and I'm pretty set for shirts now. Maybe I should just make white rev war waistcoats... If it was another color I would make waistcoats, but white doesnt lend itself to much else unless you dye it.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

3 hours ago, Tudor MercWench Smith said:

so here is the dried results....

I'm pretty pleased all things considered, especially since I was rather half assing the trial.  Moreso even then how well the dye took, I'm also pleased with the color and think it would go well with the color skirts I have (a consideration of vast import cause I don't want to have to have two separate Mantuas to coordinate)

It's a blueish grey....think maybe a slate color? Or maybe a It probably would have been more blue then grey if I had started with a bleached/white fabric. Using black beans can get your from a light blue grey to a truer blue to a dark version of those based on fabrics, mordants and dye times and pH levels. You can also even get it to be a purple tone if you change the ph on it with an acidic.  Apparently 

 

Have Ye tried wild black rice? Turns pork or anything else cooked with it a dark bluish black.

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

I have not tried that as this has been my first foray into dying anything, but I will have to keep that in mind. Now that I know this works I have to decide if it's worth trying to scale it up to be able to dye six yards

[Tudor MercWench Smith]

Ok, finally back at the mantua project after several weeks.

I'm not crazy about how I have the side gores kinds of pleated into the seams, but I think that is as much a cut/fabric/hasty stitching issue rather then any kind of functional misunderstanding. 

Working on the facings etc tonight, and hopefully the pleating, but looking down the pike, can anyone explain why the shape to the cut of the sleeves? Is there a functional reason for this or can I just plan on doing sleeves the way I know how to come the next trial?

[michaelsbagley]

What facet of the sleeve shape isn't sitting right with you?

I've noticed the "suggested" pleating as per the out-of-box (bag) pattern tends to be too much (too snug) for almost every one I have made.... So I can suggest up front, easing the pleating on the sleeves a fair bit.

Is the shape the opening? How it has what might seem like a steep arc to it? (going to go on a limb and answer to this assumption, let me know if I was wrong so I can try and be more helpful)... But the way the opening arcs, allows the cuffs once attached, to hang in a manner that will have the outside slightly lower than the inside (when your arms are comfortably hanging at your sides) as is depicted in much of the period art-work. I don't think there is any function to this, I think it is just the "fashion of the time" being different from modern fashion/comfort standards, and so seems weird.