Hand Dyed Wearables

I wanted to share some photos of the new skirts, scarves and handbags that came from Studio B.  I've moved to a new house since making these, so once I get settled into my new digs I'll be showing you new stuff.  Stay tuned, but first:  The SKIRTS!

Each of these color sets features a long skirt, a short skirt both in Rayon.  Then there is a silk scarf and a matching small purse in cotton.  The different fibers take the colors slightly differently, which makes some interesting effects.  This first one I call "Spring" and it's a combo of turquoise and lime graded platter dyed.

I call this set "bluebird."  Now the colors don't really match a bluebird, but that was the inspiration for the combination of colors.

This set reminds me of the sky at dusk, so I've named this colorway "Dusk."

My Mom loves to wear lavender and a pale lime green together and it's a charming combination.  These colors aren't quite true on my monitor but maybe it looks ok on yours.  I call this set "Violet Blossom."

This is one example where the silk and the rayon took the color differently, very little of the black actually came through on the scarf but they'd still be beautiful worn together.  I call this one "Smoked Fuchsia."  The name is inspired by one of my new favorite spices: Smoked Paprika.

Another example of the difference between rayon and silk, one took the black as more charcoal and the other one went brown.  Very interesting.  I call this one "Cool Strata" and the short skirt is sold.

This is a favorite color combination, I call it "Spice" just because it's vivid and vibrant and that's what spice does to food.  Now I'm wishing I'd just called it "Vibrant" but the tags are already made.

I call this one "Blaze" because it reminds me a bit of a forest fire with a smokey sky.  It's orange, red into purple with charcoal gray.

I call it "Autumn" of course, I really love how that olive turned out on the Rayon, on the silk it went more taupe.

This one is "Jasper" with the graded strata of chocolate and olive.  The purse is sold.


There are more but I sold parts from them before proper photos were taken.  A while back I dyed up some skirts for the "Art of a Woman" project and I wear many of those skirts still.  It is not uncommon for me to get stopped by a stranger to compliment my skirt.  And a number of my friends encouraged me to make them available for sale.  So, I have and I'm really pleased with the response so far.  They are now in a local gallery, I sold two skirts and two scarves when I took in samples for approval.  Then as I was putting them on the display rack a short skirt sold and since then a bag sold.  It's been less than a week since they've been in the gallery, we will see how it goes.

I think "Bluebird" is my favorite, which one is yours?

Happy Creating,
Carmen Rose

A Pair of Floral Quilts

Yesterday I had to get in the studio for a while just to have the feel of something in my hands. Creating isn’t just my therapy, it is who I am. And I can’t stay away from the studio for long before it starts to take a toll. So yesterday I put aside the lengthy “to do list” and spent some time in Studio B.


A local (well… it’s 45 minutes from me) art store is closing and they have all kinds of fabric dyes and paints at discounted prices. I counted my cash and then carefully spent every dollar I had. A few days later I went back and did it all over again, only BIGGER! Plus I’m expecting a huge order from Dharma tomorrow. I am prepared to explore marbling and procion dying in addition to a few interesting brands of fabric paint and metallics. Oh, nothing is as good for my spirit as color! And once that box gets here from Dharma, all bets are off for me getting anything done that doesn’t involve color and fabric! (Did I mention that “to do list?!” (I prefer writing a blog post to marking things off that list!)

I also found some old linen in my stash. More cotton and silk are in the box from Dharma. I love the textures of these things and can’t wait to see and feel these fabrics.

So in the process of painting one fabric, I put a layer of wet linen beneath it. It took whispers of the color in the places where the paint seeped through creating a very unique (and entirely accidental) effect. So two chunks of that linen formed the basis for these two 8x8 inch quilts.

Linen and cotton, some hand dyed fabrics and some commercial batiks. They are fused, machine pieced, machine quilted, embellished with glass E beads and MOP coin beads plus some hand stitching with embroidery floss. $65 each, $120 for the pair.