Clothesline Compositions' first week

Well, it's been a week, how am I doing? It's not hard to come up with an image and idea each day, the time to post is the problem. (and not using too many pictures and messing up the page layout) It might not be every day. This first week, I wanted to see how many times I talked about different subjects.

Dyeing 1, gardens 1, photoshopped pictures 3, dress illustrations 1, fabric 2, cafepress tees & tote 1, cat stories 1, cafepress printing colors1, wearing Renaissance & medieval costume 1, old picture of me 1, cafepress political tees1.

Probably there will be a little less Cafepress stuff in general, and more about dyeing, fabrics, dresses, and class projects. I just got some of an exciting new style of dyeable shirt, and am going to be trying the method I'm testing for overdyeing printed tees. That's because that method gives me the muted colors I love, and which are easier to wear in everyday life than the rich bright jewel tones I get from immersion dyeing. And if it comes out a little too "retro" (that is, uneven color), well I can just overdye it.

After I dye them, I'm going to be trying an adjustment to the shoulder seam, like LaBelladonna wrote about in the comments over at Dressaday. I bought the shirts large so they would have room to shrink and still be loose-fitting, but the shoulders really are too wide. I think I'll be trying her methods on some of my Cafepress design tees that I'm overdyeing too. I often buy mens' tees for the sleeve length, and the last few years also because the women's are almost all way too short for someone who's not 18. But again, the shoulders tend to be way too wide.

For today, I thought I'd show the origin of the title of this blog. Since I tend to dye, and wash, clothes in color families, often the array on the clothesline is really pretty. I think of arranging it as almost an artform in itself — especially when I've dyed most of the clothes myself. For all the years when I worked outside in the nursery, and wore jeans and a t-shirt, and the last few years back at school wearing the same, dyeing and printing t-shirts and shirts has been the only art available to me for everyday clothing. Soon I hope to be doing more with dresses again. And jewelry too.