A few weeks ago, I signed up for a last minute class in Shibori Dying. I’ve been wanting to take a proper course at the Textile Arts Center for ages, but have had conflicts most of the weeks and weekends it’s been held.

Shibori’s become a sought after style this summer. From high-end linen homewear and accessories to upscale and low key fashion, the DIY indigo look is something that’s accessible, yet cool, and not necessarily easy to replicate without a significant amount of practice. That is, unless you end up with happy accidents…which are cool if you’re a beginner.

My friend Linda and I were shooting emails back and forth, talking about how cool a set of shibori-dyed yoga leggings would be…which lead to her stumbling upon the Make Workshop website. Surprisingly, I’d never heard of the site or the classes, though I very familiar with the building, thanks to many visits a few years back to Laurie Rosenwald’s studio.

Before we knew it, we were meeting an enthusiastic bunch of fellow lady dyers and discussing our expectations for our untreated raw items. I want to say that the course was excellent and that you should all sign up for it, but in all honesty, it was a bit vague and open for the true beginners looking to understand the technique and the steps that go into varied dye results.

Here are my final products. I brought an old Steven Alan button down and a baby onesie, Linda brought dinner napkins and our friend Kate brought white vans and an American Apparel shirt. My goal was to get a sweet (but not too sweet) heart shape in the middle of the onesie. As you can see, rubber bands were used in abundance and clips helped secure crisp folds. The final color is about five shades lighter when it drained and dried, but overall I’m pretty pleased for a first go at it.