{"id":9892,"date":"2023-07-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/?p=9892"},"modified":"2023-08-11T16:02:11","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T14:02:11","slug":"blue-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltin.se\/josefinwaltinspinner\/blue-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A mystery linen shirt, a hedge top, a cauldron and a summer sky are the main characters in this post. Today I give you a blue story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Klein<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time there was a shirt, a white linen shirt named Calvin Klein. At leas that was the name on a tag at the back of the shirt\u2019s neck. One morning, sky blue with just a few fuzzy clouds, she found herself casually draped over a hedge in a residential area, a very peculiar place to wake up in for a white shirt. Her back ached and she wasn\u2019t very pleased about her situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A hedgerow conundrum<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The house occupants were puzzled about the shirt’s arrival in their hedge, a perfectly fine white shirt, hanger and all. They confered for a while and decided to leave it in the hedge for a couple of days in case someone recognized it as theirs. But nobody claimed the shirt. The mother of the house decided the teenage daughter would be the new guardian of the shirt. And so Calvin came to stay with the family in the teenager\u2019s closet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A white linen shirt appeared on our hedge one morning in the late -80’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This was over 30 years ago. Calvin was worn and enjoyed for many years. For a while she was too small and for another while just fine again. The owner wasn\u2019t much of a white shirt wearer, though. Still, Calvin was worn on a beloved auntie\u2019s funeral only last summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue is coming to town<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An indigo dyer came to town and offered a dip in their cauldron to clothes in need of some vibrant blues in their lives. Calvin had got some mysterious stains, and the now 50-year old woman figured Calvin would be the perfect candidate for some indigo dyeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I mended the holes under the arms with a linen patch on the back and running stitches with a linen yarn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the woman was about to scour Calvin to make her susceptible to the dye she discovered some torn spots in the armpits. She put a linen patch behind the spots and made neat stitches with linen thread to protect them from further damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyeing Day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The dyeing day came. The woman rode her bike the nine kilometers to the museum where the dyeing was to take place. She met up with her friend, she too with garments to dye, and together with lots of other people looking for some more blue in their lives and wardrobes, they began to dip their textiles in the cauldron, that looked a lot like a large plastic tub. The friend had brought two pieces of natural linen folded into cubes to experiment with some shibori-style dyeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soaking textiles and textile cubes (left), starting the indigo bath (center) and dipping time (right).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The indigo bath had a yellow-greenish colour and a compost-like smell. Yet, the two friends trusted the instructors and kept dipping. And there was magic. Once they took the textiles out of the cauldron the limey green started turning blue. They swayed the sopping wet textiles in the air and watched the blue magic happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning curve<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This was the first time the woman had dyed with indigo and she made lots of mistakes. But she learned from them and got a first sense of what it is like to dye with indigo. There was lots of dipping, drippning, airing and laughter. Some rain too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The textiles are green when they first come out of the tub, and then turn blue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After a few hours, cauldron (and stomachs) was almost empty, the rain plenty and the woman really had to pee, so the two friends gave their dyed textiles a final wash and went their separate ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wet and hungry and with soaking wet textiles in her backpack, thee woman rode her bike the nine kilometers back home. She tossed the garments into the washing machine and got a lovely dinner that her teenager had made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calvin in her new summer sky look (left) beside a wardrobe friend in the same look (center). To the right a tunic that used to be the same purple as the garment underneath it. For some old reason it got a more greenish colour. Still lovely! In the background the unfolded piece of natural linen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The following day the clothes were dry. They were a bit lighter than she had expected and a little more uneven that she had hoped for. But still, very beautiful. Calvin was very happy with her new look that reminded her of the sky that day when she had woken up atop the hedge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nice and orderly in the armpit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the mending? It turned into a beautiful blue too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy spinning!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You can find me in several social media:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n