Dyeing to weave

I had to run down to Joann’s today for a white zipper to go with the white tutu, and stumbled across this pattern (Simplicity 4025):

I had been wondering what to wear over the holidays – believe it or not, while I am drowning in tutus, I don’t have much in the way of (regular) holiday wear!  I had been considering sewing myself a Little Black Dress (and may still do so) but this jacket caught my eye.  It would be really interesting to do either in a painted warp or as a dip-dyed
finished piece.  Would also be neat to try doing it in two different fibers, one cellulose, one protein, and dye the results using fiber-reactive and/or acid dyes.  Since cellulose fibers don’t pick up acid dyes, the result would be two different (handpainted) colors in warp and weft, which could produce some VERY interesting color combinations.

Of course, it could also produce mud.  That’s an ever-present possibility when things get too complex.

I’m mulling it over while measuring out the pattern.  I think it’ll take a substantial amount of yardage, but I don’t know exactly how much, so I’m going to lay it out assuming a width of 20″ (which is about as wide as I can reasonably guarantee on my loom).  I think I’ll mock it up in muslin first, just to see how it drapes in a lighter fabric.

Anyway, I have to finish the last set of placemats before I can start this project, but it looks like it’ll be an interesting one.  The yarn for the placemats arrived today and I will start skeining it up/dyeing it tonight.