Fabrics fading

I was rummaging through my fabric bins to find just the right colour for the patchwork I'm making when I came across some checked fabrics I bought in Seattle, USA. Now I was aware that the table runner and mats I made several years ago had faded but I hadn't realised by quite how much.

The interesting thing is that the borders were made from hand dyed fabrics with fabric painted details and these have retained their original colour much better. The table linen is in regular use and goes through the washing machine at least once a week.

It's odd then isn't it that hand dyes have such a poor reputation for being colourfast? In my experience pretty much any fabric colour will fade over time but hand dyes are no worse than commercially coloured fabrics and paints last longer than everything else!

Colour is always on my mind but even more so than usual as I'm working into my little book of red.

DMTV members can see the latest pages next week but here's a hint of what I'm up to.

Thanks for reading today. I'm off for more sketchbook play now but I'll be back to talk very soon. Linda x