Accomplishment chart, 5/31 - 6/6

For the week of 5/31 – 6/6:

Writing
- 4 blog entries
- 7 daily Hipster Feminist tweets

Theater
- saw Improbable Fiction at The Natick Center for the Arts
- reworked Merchant of Venice preshow dance
- performed in one Merchant of Venice preshow
- got interview for costumer position with Apollinaire Theater
- got costumer job with Apollinaire Theater

Sewing/Costuming
- bleached a pink old lady nightgown to turn into a white Victorian dressing gown
- dyed two baggy shirts black
- assembled a costume for the Merchant of Venice preshow dance

Physical
- 3 ballet classes
- 30 minutes walking
- 20-minute lower body workout
- 30-minute ballet practice

Cooking
- helped make T-bone steaks, beef stew, and roast corn on a campfire
- made turkey avocado sandwiches
- made nut and panko crusted tilapia and green salad
- made roast sweet potato

The opposite of dyeing

I've been experimented with some fabric manipulation techniques lately. As you know, I've recently learned how to use liquid dyes and I've gotten pretty good with them. I dyed a wedding dress blue and an eighties-dress-altered-into-a-twenties-dress aquamarine. I also dyed a couple of gauzy tops black by putting them in a plastic bin with a lid and shaking it. I had a ton left over, so now I am seeing if the dye keeps by closing it up and putting it away to possibly reuse it later. But lately I decided to try going the other way. I found a dowdy old lady nightgown in a thrift store that I thought I could turn into a Victorian dressing gown. This could come in handing for my Mrs. Hawking project.

What color would you say this is? Does it look white to you, or do you perceive it as having a hue? Because it had one when I bought it. The only problem was that aside from the lace trim, it was a pretty cheesy baby pink color. Not appropriate at all for the look I wanted. So I decided to see if I could turn it white.

The first thing I tried was to bleach it. I filled up my plastic bin with warm water and poured in three or so tablespoons of bleach. I put the nightgown in and periodically stirred it, trying to keep it as submerged as possible. I wish I'd taken a picture of it in its normal state for comparison, but when I took it out, I couldn't tell if it had lightened up or if I was just telling myself it did since the pink was a pretty pale shade to begin with. At any rate, it definitely was still pink. I thought that was odd, given the stark white spots I'd seen bleach cause in the past, but it was not the results I wanted.

Then I got a RIT color remover, the same brand as makes the dyes I've been using. It's designed to take color out of dyed things that aren't too dark in preparation for dyeing them another color. It required simmering on the stove top in non-reactive cookware for forty-five minutes. Weirdly I found it hard to really notice what change was occurring as it happened, but once it dried, I really do think it worked. It still has a very pale cast of pink if you're looking for it, but I think that unless you've been told you perceive it as white. I'm really happy that it worked. I may bleach it one more time, just to see if I can really get it clean and bright, but I like that I can use this technique now too.