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Sekka-shibori folding techniques

By Meagan Mora, special for CraftyChica.com

Shekka Shibori folding techniques are not as hard as you think. I can’t believe it’s already June. Summer’s in full force, and I love it. It’s no secret that I love sewing, I love fabric, and I love a great print. So what could be more fun then creating my own Sekka Shibori print with tie dye?

I’ve actually never tie-dyed before (tragic, I know) so I was pretty excited to try it out!

I have no patience when it comes to having to wait when I have an idea. So naturally, I drove right away to check out the tie dye Joann Stores had to offer. 

There was single color kits, there was triple color kits, there was so many to choose from. Of coarse, my indecisiveness kicked in and I had no idea what color I wanted to use. So like anyone in my position would do, I got the huge party sized kit with ALL the colors, 14 to be exact. Ava was so excited, we were going to have a tie dye party for two!

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Tie dye party in cart, we then ventured over to the fabric section. I knew I wanted something with a little drape and I also knew it had to be a natural fiber for the dye to work like it was supposed to. So, in came the 100% cotton white gauze. It was dreamy!

We also got a white bottom weight fabric, think denim, for Ava’s dye design. Now that we had all our supplies I had to figure out what kind of design I wanted to make with my tie dye. I found a cool blog post  about Shibori dye techniques and decided that’s exactly what I wanted to try.

 

Specifically, Shekka Shibori folding techniques.

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The Sekka technique consists of a series of triangle folds that result in beautiful starburst designs (click here for folding tutorial that I used). It was just what I was looking for. I ended up going with violet for the color. Ava’s a big purple fan so it was a pretty fail-safe choice.

I pre washed my fabrics and got straight to work.

It was a little tedious to fold the fabric like an accordion, but it wasn’t too bad. I used rubber bands and secured everything. Ava saw a picture of the classic rainbow swirl tie dye and decided that that was what she was going to do.

I let her choose all her colors. She ended up with 10! We used a fork to swirl the fabric, then  rubber banded it together. By the time we were finished it was looking pretty similar to a pie chart.

After finished dying our creations, we wrapped them in plastic wrap to sit all night.

We had some dye left in the bottles we used and I really didn’t want to throw them away. That’s when a random idea popped in my head.

I decided to tie dye a white spool of thread that I had.

Luckily, it was 100% cotton.

I squirted a vertical line of color and rubbed it in with my fingers to saturate all the layers. I continued with different colors. I covered the thread in plastic wrap to set and hoped for the best.

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The next day we unveiled our creations and followed the directions on rinsing and washing from the kit.

They all came out so good. My Shibori technique ended up having fun abstract asterisk shapes all over, Ava’s rainbow swirl was very bright and beautiful, and the thread was my favorite of them all. It came out magical, so rainbow-y. You can use it on white fabric to really add a subtle pop to your projects.

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

Now that you know how we made our fabric, I can tell you about the dress I made.

I’m inspired by off-the-shoulder dresses and blouses. I’m not sure an off-the shoulder dress pattern for girls exists, so I did some altering.

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Meagan Mora from AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

I took a peasant dress pattern, I used the Polly Peasant Dress by Sew Much Ado, and lowered the neck line by around two inches.

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

I really wanted to added a frill across the top like this dress. To do this, I left off the sleeves and cut two rectangles of fabric the entire width from selvedge to selvedge and made them around eight inches long. I sewed the two sides together and then attached it to the neckline and made a casing for the elastic.

To figure out the length of the elastic I needed, I measured around Ava’s shoulders and subtracted about two inches. I took 1/4 inch elastic and inserted it into the casing.

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

Then, I hemmed everything up. It came out just the way I imagined. I’m really happy with how light and airy the gauze is and how fun the print of the fabric looks.

RELATED: Kidchella-inspired swimsuit

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

No look is complete with out adequate accessories.

I wanted to pair Ava’s feminine dress with an unexpected pair of slip on sneakers. The pair she’s wearing is by Akid and is amazing, I wish they came in my size. Unfortunately they’re sold out, but this pair  will give you the same effect.

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

Let’s face it, if you’re reading this blog you probably love glitter, am I right? So to put the cherry on top we got this really cute gold glittered bag from Mae & Marie.

It is such a cute little store for women and kids in the Union at the Biltmore Fashion Park). If you’re local, I highly recommend visiting. We had so much fun tie dying and putting this look together. It’s so rewarding to see your craft supplies transformed into the idea you had in your head, don’t you think?!

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By Meagan Mora of AvasLookBook.com for CraftyChica.com

As always, thank you so much for having me show you Shekka Shibori folding techniques, Kathy! I’ll see you all next time!

Please come visit me at my blog, AvasLookbook.com – I have a lot of other projects for you to see!

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