Yesterday, I dyed some bra notions (plus possible panty fabrics) in various shades of blue and green, to coordinate with the printed silk I’d chosen for my second bra project. Personally, I think that using this related-but-not-necessarily-matching approach really helps all the colors blend with the sort of watercolor-y abstractness of the print:

If I’d chosen just one solid color for the coordinating bits, I would have had to work harder at making that color “match” one color in the print.

And then I got to thinking…

What if I actually did want everything to be all one color?

So I took small pieces of these undyed materials…

… and dyed them all in the same fuchsia dye bath*. And got some interesting results:

As you can see in this photo, the various pieces each absorbed the dye a little differently. This is primarily due to varying fiber content; 3, 4, and 6 are 100% nylon, 1 is 80% nylon/20% rayon (the rayon being the part that stayed white), 2 is nylon except for the elastic that stayed white, and 5 is 80% nylon/20% Spandex.

Conclusion: These pieces are close enough in color to be used together, without looking like I tried to match them but didn’t quite make it happen. (I’m sure you know what I mean.)

These experimental pieces are a bit too small to incorporate into a bra, except for the back closure, which I fully intend to use. I’m a big fan of having an element of surprise in garments (fashion should be fun, after all), so I’m thinking of making a bra in something other than fuchsia, and finishing it with this bright back closure as a cheeky contrast. It could look amazing on an all-black bra…

Next up: Yes, I’m finally going to start making my second bra!

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*These pieces were dyed with an acid dye; see Notes at the end of my previous dyeing post for more information and links about dyeing.

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