Kids Art Quilt: Tie-Dye Fabric

After finding a Ricky Tims Convergence Quilts book I thought it would be fun to do Tie-Dye with the kids and then turn the fabric into some quilts.

We used Tulips One-Step Tie-Dye Kit with 12 different colors in it. It was extremely simple to use and very little mess for dying with small children. I would highly recommend the product.

We used all the dye up. The instructions said we should leave the dye to set for 6hrs ... so we did - I wondered if it would allow the colors to bleed too much - but they didn't. 

We had a little bit of dye left so my eldest had fun squirting the leftovers onto two strips of fabric. 

The other great thing about the Tulip Kit was that is came with lots of different pattern ideas. 

We played with explosions, crosses, stripes, swirls and bulls-eye designs. 

We were too shy with the dye on the larger pieces of fabric. They look cool but I worry there is too much white on them for our 'convergence' quilt plan. 

We also took the opportunity to make some tie-dye t-shirts for Father's day that everyone wore proudly!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!

Our other kiddy led fabric projects have included:

Kid Painted Teepee

Kid Painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kids Art Quilt - Blotter Art

Kids Art Quilt - Throwing Paint

Kids Art Quilt - Spraying Paint

Kids Art Quilt - Shaving Foam Paint

Kids Art Quilt - Watercolor Circles

Kids Art Quilt - Spin Art (WIP)
Kids Art Quilt - Sharpie Art Quilt
Kids Art Quilt - Fabric Building Blocks
Kids Art Quilt - Sun Painting (WIP)
Kids Art Quilt - Bess Beetle
Kids Art Gallery Quilt

Kids Art Quilt: Marbling Fabric

I have wanted to do marbling with the kids for a long time. With the endless winter weather we have found ourselves inside with a lot of time to fill

I purchased a Jacquard Marbling kit from Amazon. (As you will read this was a bit of a waste of money and a frustrating process.) We also used fabric paint from Jacquard - that I love. Really bright vibrant colors. We dropped the colors straight from the bottles.

For all our marbling I gave the girls disposable chop sticks that we ran through the mixture. We experimented with straight lines and swirly lines. 

Jacquard Marbling Kit (Methocel)
It took a long time to prepare - 45 mins+ which was not practical as the little people were keen and waiting to start. The methocel mix did not work without the suggested addition ammonia - a tatty addendum to the instructions was stuck in the box suggests adding ammonia if the methocel doesn't work properly. I didn't want to add ammonia - perhaps I'm a whimp but ammonia and kids 5 and under didn't sit well with me. It was a bit of a disaster. And yes I did get a little cross after trying this process 3 times!!! The paint in the kit was way too thick too and the girls got very frustrated trying to get the paint out.

Shaving Foam & Fabric Paint
Spray in shaving foam into a flat pan add drops of paint on the top and mix.  The girls LOVED spraying the shaving foam - that was the highlight for sure. We got better 'marbling' when the shaving foam had some water added to it. But all the finished colors were very light.

 

Liquid Starch & Fabric Paint
This worked really well. The paint dispersed and looked amazing. But I think the liquid starch perhaps diluted the paint a little and the fabric paint washed out more than I would have liked. 

Fabric before heat setting and washing (above) and after (below)

Cornstarch & Fabric Paint
Amazing what cornstarch can be used for - but this was my favorite method for marbling by far. The girls loved mixing it. It suspended the paint well & looked amazing. It gave us the strongest color on the fabric.

Fabric before heat setting and washing (above) and after (below)

Once the fabrics were heat set,  washed and ironed the colors did dampen a little -  but I think they will be fun to work with - now I just have to figure out a design idea!

Cold Weather Kids Activities: Surfing Competition

It was snowing - too cold to play outside.

We found some cardboard and cut them into surf boards. The kids painted them (which was a surprisingly lengthy project.)

Kids Outdoor Activity: Hedgerow Hair

We have been in the UK visiting family & friends. It is a tough job to travel transatlantic with 3 small children under 5 - away from their routine, toys and home comforts. Not to mention my withdrawal from my beloved Bernie & Freddie.



Crippling homesickness also returns whenever I travel to the UK. One forgets how beautiful the UK is and other important things like how delicious Jammie Dodgers and Jaffa Cakes are!

I know the kids will be so happy to return home to all their toys - but I do dream of a much simpler life where we don't have a room full of plastic toys and where the pressures of a consumer society are more removed. (I am a mild hermit at heart!) But truth be told - my kids are kids and they love toys!

So for two weeks we have been entertaining the kids without many of the things we utilize at home. And yet again I'm blown away by the kids imagination and ability to amuse themselves with little to no toys within their reach. For example I never knew collecting eggs from chickens would be such a highlight for them.

And I was really amazed by this idea that my eldest came up with. I have to admit that she wanted to be like Rapunzel in the Tangled movie - but the title of 'Hedgerow Hair ' appealed to me more.

Basic premise:

Go for a nice walk in the countryside ....

.... spend a longtime throwing stones into a stream ....

.... pick lots of wild flowers along the way and stick them in your hair.

It was so simple yet had them entertained for a VERY long time.

(If you don't have the countryside hedgerows easily available to you - like us in the US - letting your kid pick and use the flowers in your yard will provide the same experience and delight for your children!)