fun with fabric dye

so on Saturday we made an unprecedented trip to Goodwill for a little thrift-shopping for me. Cass actually found something, too - an Ikea chair that matches the ones we already have at our dining table - for $3. He picked it up. The upholstery is even in better condition than ours! (not that it really matters; I purchased some cute upholstery fabric to redo our chairs this summer). I found a cute Theory jacket for $10, a long pendleton wool skirt for $5 and this Odille skirt (remember when anthropologie carried this brand? Do they still have any Odille stuff anymore?) for $8. Unfortunately, this skirt had a tiny, barely-visible stain about halfway up from its hem. Not really a big deal, but I get oddly self-conscious if I know my clothes are stained or torn or ill-fitting or whatever. I always think everyone else can tell. Ugh.

So. I tried treating it with some ecover, to no avail. So I balled the skirt's lining up with the sash at the yoke (top of the skirt), and soaked the bottom of it. I lay a plastic painting dropcloth out in my living room and fanned the skirt out in a sort-of-circle shape on it. I mixed up some of my procion fiber reactive dyes and started painting in navy, pearl gray and warm black. The navy came out a bit assertive, and I must say that at one point my skirt started to get a bit drier and I was disappointed at how much more defined the drops and dabs of dye are at that part, but I had a fair bit of fun "watercolouring" my skirt, and I think the results are charming. As for that spot ... totally lost under all the brighter spots now!