Shibori

Shibori belongs to the traditional Japanese reservation dyeing techniques. Without the help of special agents, certain parts on the fabric are being reserved and then dyed.

Most of the time, the fabric is being folded into small parts, those are being fixed, e.g. through tying, stitching or pressing, and afterward the piece is being dyed.
One of the easiest techniques is being introduced to you here.

The scarf was dyed with the Shibori technique and later felted onto blue FLYFEL-web.
 

This is how it works:

Fold the scarf in the middle, a light Pongé- quality works best. Then start at one end and fold both layers, like an accordion, into a 6cm wide stripe. The more exact the layers are folded, the more accurate the checked pattern is going to be in the end. The iron is a great help in this situation; simply iron after every layer.
Now fold the stripe in the other direction, also like an accordion, so that a small package is created. Now press together as tight as possible. This works best between two even wooden boards or plates. The package is then dyed in a water bath with steam fixable silk color until the desired color intensity is reached.

The tighter the package is tied up, the lighter the spaces between the color squares are going to be because no dye can reach.
 

Here a super fine Organza scarf was dyed with the described technique and afterward felted onto a natural white piece of FLYFEL-web. Only a hint of the color can be seen on the surface of the nuno-felt.
 

This pattern doesn't only look impressive on chiffon and organza but also on Crêpe Georgette.

In this example, strands of FLYFEL-web in different shades of gray and khaki were cut out and felted on. That emphasizes the slightly three dimensional character of the shibori pattern.
 

Here is another alternative on Organza 2,8.
After dyeing with black silk paint, additional parts were covered in wax and dyed with blue silk paint.

The scarf gets a whole different character through felting onto a black background instead of white FLYFEL-web.
 

Not only silk scarves, but also linen scarves can be dyed with this technique. In that case, you will have to use dye suitable for plant fibers, instead of silk dye.

Linen-scarves can also be felted onto FLYFEL-web. This nuno-felt will get a nice strongly crinkled, but still soft surface.


 

The same Shibori pattern, but this time not dyed separately.

For this scarf, a black Pongé was folded as described and dyed in regular dye while slightly simmering. Depending on the shade of black and bleach being used, wonderful beige to brown shades can be created.

Afterward, this scarf was felted onto brown FLYFEL-web.