Snow Dying: 11" of Unexpected Snow!

What crazy weather we're having here in Connecticut! We just cleaned up after a hurricane and this week we have 11" of fresh snow... at least we have power! But what to do stuck inside with no snow plow ready yet... SNOW DYING - of course! I hadn't thought about snow dying for months but what a great opportunity to have some fun. I was out of my regular fabric for dying so I searched for a substitute. I came across a couple of over-sized tee shirt style dresses that I hadn't gotten around to dying over the summer - perfect!

Snow Dyed Sleeveless Dress

I started with a tub to catch the melting snow and inserted an
upside down pan to keep the fabric from sitting in the dye mixture once
 the snow melted.

I soaked the fabric in soda ash and water for 30 minutes.
 The fabric was wrung out and placed on the upside down pan.

I went outside and scooped up fresh snow to cover the fabric.

I placed about 3" of snow on the fabric to completely cover.

Next I mixed up some dye!

I admit this doesn't look like much more than a blob of yuck but have faith!

I decided to shake a little dye powder over the top just to see what would happen.

Now I wait... the snow was melted by evening but I waited a full 24 hours before rinsing and washing the fabric. I know from experience that if you try to rush the process the end result is muted with very light colors.

Snow Dyed Tee Shirt Dress

 A few things to remember; I don't think I needed to soak the fabric in soda ash and water if I added soda ash to the dye mixture. I'm so used to ice dying or confetti dying that I automatically soaked the fabric. Also, shaking the dye powder over the snow at the end didn't seem to have much of an impact.