Today I'm going to sew a dress from an old bed sheet, but first I want to turn the fabric blue.
So I'm going to dye the fabric using spring wildflowers.
On a quiet evening, just as the sun was starting to set, I wandered up into the hills searching for lupins.
This is a walk I do almost every day, and right now the lupins are blooming everywhere in these mountains.
And something a lot of people do not realize is that the petals can give you a really beautiful pale blue dye.
So I picked them until the sun set and my basket was full to the top.
Spring is usually a time when I start to feel more energized again in my life, but lately I still feel like I've been moving pretty slow.
I think this winter just took a lot out of me and I'm still kind of recovering from it.
But honestly, slowing down has not been a bad thing.
I feel like because I've been moving slower I've actually been noticing more.
I've been paying more attention to the little things I normally would have missed.
So I think it's good to slow down, because it's so easy to always be hurrying into the next thing and accidentally miss the life we're living right now.
Spring is here for such a short time and yeah, this year I've just been really trying to be more present.
So now I'm just preparing my dye bath.
I'm placing all of the flower petals into a big pot with water.
I'm going to heat this up very gently on the stove.
The pigment in flowers is very delicate and if you heat them too much the color can get dull and brown.
Then I just let the flowers sit in the warm bath overnight.
While the dye bath was steeping, I started prepping the fabric for the dress.
I'm using an old fitted bed sheet, so the first thing I did was cut off the elastic edges to make the fabric easier to lie flat and work with.
I like using bed sheets for projects like this because they give you a lot more continuous fabric to work with.
Fabric in the store sold off.
The bolt is usually only around three and a half feet wide, which can make cutting larger dress pieces harder and more awkward.
And honestly, I also just love being able to reuse something that might have otherwise been thrown away.
My dye bath has been steeping for over a day and by now the color has turned a deep dark blue.
So I removed the flowers and then added my fabric.
I was nervous that I didn't let the flowers soak for long enough in the water and that the dye wouldn't be strong.
However, I was very shocked to see how fast the fabric instantly started changing color.
The second I put it into the dye bath.
And then I just gently heated the fabric in the dye and let that sit for 24 hours.
I also added some hibiscus to make the color a little more purple and not so blue.
And the next day I removed the fabric and hung it to dry.
So I've learned a lot over the years with plant dyeing.
And honestly, I think the most important thing is to pre-treat your fabric correctly before you dye with it.
This is called mordanting the fabric. and it makes the fabric absorb the dye evenly.
It also makes the dye permanent on the fabric so even if you wash it, the dye will still be there.
And I think it just helps it look more professional.
So I want to tell you all about the shoes I've been wearing.
These are from Vivaya, who is sponsoring today's video.
In my life I'm constantly walking on grass and dirt and rocks and I used to have to switch between my more practical shoes and then the shoes I would wear for filming.
But these, I can wear these for everything.
Not only are they super comfortable and soft, but they're also very durable and they're machine washable.
So I can put them on, run outside, into the garden, go down to the river. swim in the river.
And then, if they get dirty, I can literally just throw them in the washing machine, which is so cool.
I also just love that they're slip ons.
I'm constantly going outside and inside all day long and I can just throw them on super quick.
These are from their Healing Garden series, so just click the link in the description if you want to check them out.
I honestly think these are like the perfect spring shoe.
So I have been dreaming of making this dress for over a year now.
Last year I dyed an apron with the lupin flowers and the color turned out so beautiful and I really regretted not making a dress.
So I've been waiting to make this.
And honestly, I feel like this color turned out even better than last year.
This is like seriously my favorite color.
Like this light blue, purple, lilac, almost periwinkle color.
Oh, I love it so much.
I think this is my most successful plant dying experiment i've ever done.
Um, and i'm very, i'm very excited to make this dress.
Oh my gosh, it's gonna be.
It's gonna be so beautiful, oh wow, and i think it's gonna look also really good with the yellow wildflowers this year.
Okay,
I think I just finished the top.
Oh my gosh.
I am so excited about this.
Wow.
I added some lace to the sleeves and to the bottom.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
I think it's going to fit perfect.
This is so cute.
Wow.
Okay, now I just have to make the skirt and then I'm done.
My flower dress.
That was actually kind of hard to do, to be honest with you.
I'm tired.
Maybe I'll take a break.
Go eat something.
Very hungry.
Okay.
I'm gonna take a break and then I'm gonna finish the skirt.
And then it's gonna be done.
Oh my gosh you guys, I am so excited about how this dress turned out.
Wearing a dress dyed with wildflowers and running through these mountains, I seriously feel like I don't know a princess.
A fairy?
I don't know.
It felt very magical.
And there is just so much abundance growing all around us.
Just this week I made dandelion wine.
I foraged wild spring onions found nettles down by the river and, of course, I made this dress using lupins.
Nature gives us so much and yeah, this time of year it just always reminds me of that.
And don't forget to check out Vivaya's Healing Garden Collection.
I feel like these are the perfect spring shoe.
Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you guys next week.
Okay, bye-bye.
