As I wait for my wool fabric to arrive, I am gathering dye ingredients. I have also secured cream of tartar to use as a mordant to prep the wool for dyeing. I looked to family recipes for dye inspiration, and found common natural dye ingredients in my abuelita’s famous spanish rice (onion, chili peppers). The rice also calls for cumin, so I’m excited to experiment with it as a pigment.
I intend on tracking my dye experiments and observations with a table. I will also be taking notes throughout the process to reference later. I should have enough fabric for a couple extra squares for more trial and error. A yard of 45″ wide wool will give me about 10-20 squares (9-10″). I will most likely scale the size of the quilt down, however, to make it more of a manageable wall hanging art piece.
I’ve had a lot of great conversations with my family and heard a lot of crazy stories over the past few days. I’m excited to tell an interpretive story about my family through history. I’m working on creating these symbols to use as appliqué and considering using embroidery techniques to embellish the final quilt. I like that I’ll be able to expand and continuously add on to this quilt if I choose to do.