Adventures in Dyeing

I've added one last costume to my Dragon*Con list. I said I'd only do this one if I can across the right fabric, and I have... and so far, this costume is coming out cheap and accurate... I might just break the Rule of Three :) (If I don't jinx myself). As of right now, the Girl On Fire dress is in the sample stage and waiting on fabric samples, and the Hunting I'm playing with arrow making. Can't quite afford my jacket leather yet, so it's nice to have something concrete to work on.

Here's my fabric. The original fabric used in the movie is described as a vintage rayon that was found in a California store that was bleached and dyed. Looking at the promo pics, it's not a solid fabric, it's almost mottled, as if there's the slightest print to it. I set out to find a vintage rayon that had a small, white floral print to it and found this lovely one from a site that sells from estate sales, I managed to get 5 yards (of 30-36" wide) fabric for only $14.99. It was a medium blue with little white leaf clusters. I took some iDye color remover and lightened it up. It didn't lighten evenly around the ends, but the bulk of the fabric lightened fairly well until the print was just visible. I dyed it in some leftover brilliant blue and jet black dye. I determined it was too blue and too light, so I did a more concentrated bath. I found some periwinkle in my dye stash so I added some of that and more black and got a neary perfect color. The print is so barely visible that it gives the same subtle feel as the original. I'm very happy with how it turned out! Hopefully I will be done patterning and begin construction this week!