CROP CIRCLES IN BANGKOK!

Something strange has been going on in our bed.  Well, I mean something stranger than normal of course!  Over the last couple of weeks, strange red makes started appearing on Alan's pillowcases and on the sheet on his side of the bed.  Initially I thought I had left some newly dyed pieces of fabric in the washing machine, but there were no rogue piece in there.  The marks were also quite regular, a sort of horseshoe shape.

Initially I blamed a rather nasty shaving gash on Alan's face, but as the marks kept reappearing, seemingly multiplying overnight, we knew that couldn't be the answer.  Also the marks wouldn't wash out, even with bleach.

I kept changing the pillowcases but the marks reappeared every morning when we got up.  Unusually it was Alan who started to get a bit creeped out by this, saying he had crop circles on his pillowcases.

However, this morning he came to me shouting "Eureka!".  Yep, Alan had solved the crop circle mystery which was threatening to become our own X-File.  Guess what it was...

WHO CARES WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES...

Ha ha, I wonder who was in charge of naming this foundation???

HOW DO DIFFERENT COTTON FABRICS EFFECT THE RESULTING DYE COLOURS?

I decided to test my usual two brands of cotton fabric, against other cotton fabrics found in the market, to see which dyes best and how big a difference the fabric actually makes to the end result.  

Into the same dye bath I put fat eighths of:

• Cotton Oxford (THB200)
• Cotton voile (THB180)
• Regular cotton (THB60)
• Cotton Sateen (THB150)
• Very cheap and loosely woven cotton (THB30 - that says it all!)
• My usual cotton (THB70)
• A heavy cotton that I also use (THB70)
• Jute (what the heck, I was interested to see how it would dye)  (THB90)
• Beige cotton with a raised texture (THB90)

All the fabric was sold to me as 100% cotton except the jute.  I also added a couple of other bits of spare cotton and linen I had, just to see how they would dye.  I can't replace the fabric, so it wasn't really part of the experiment.

The results were quite different from what I imagined.  You can see the first batch I dyed above.  They were all in the same dye bath.  I sorted them into piles that I considered had the same overall colour.

WHAT SHALL I DO TODAY?

Say it aloud, then answers on a postcard please!