Resources for artists

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m rarely without one of my beloved Harem Pants dresses or trousers, especially during the warmer months or when I’m in the studio, getting messy with watercolors. I’ve been wearing Harem Pants for years, and they’ve kindly sponsored many of them, allowing me to experiment with both comfort and creativity.

Wearing the Crinkled Hill Tribe Cotton Tank Dress in Teal, while holding one of my Shamanic Drums.	I’ve always wanted a blue dress—this is the result of customizing it with SolarFast!

But I’ve always wanted one in blue. A deep, botanical indigo that echoed the watercolors I paint with and the calming energy of nature. So I reached out to Harem Pants and asked if they could send me one in plain white, and they said yes!

My Blue Botanical Dress

This isn’t just any dyed dress. I wanted to create something that felt like my paintings had come to life: ferns, textures, soft gradients, and a touch of spontaneity.

Over the past months, I’ve been playing with cyanotypes, which many of you might recognize from my art prints. I did consider trying that on fabric too, but if you’ve done any reading on it, you know cyanotypes aren’t ideal for clothing. The beautiful blue fades easily in the wash and sun, which is heartbreaking after you’ve put so much love into something wearable.

Facing the Sun, Sunflower Cyanotype, 2025.	Feather Light, Cyanotype, 2025.

So instead, I turned to SolarFast by Jacquard, which is designed for fabrics. It develops in sunlight just like cyanotype, but the color is much more permanent. Bonus: it comes in vibrant shades, including the perfect blue.

My Process: Printing with Sunlight

Wearing the Crinkled Hill Tribe Cotton Tank Dress in Off White, just before starting the SolarFast process.	The same dress, now transformed into a one-of-a-kind botanical piece using SolarFast and garden ferns.

Here’s how I created the dress, step by step:

• Choose a dress: I used the white Harem Pants dress – light, flowy, and perfect for sunlight printing.
• Using SolarFast Blue, I brushed the dye directly onto the fabric in the areas where I wanted the botanical prints, in this case, just the front of the dress. Be sure to do this step away from direct sunlight, as SolarFast is UV-sensitive and the developing process begins almost immediately when exposed to UV light.
• Gather ferns: I picked fresh ferns from my garden and laid them out on the front of the dress.
• Expose to sunlight: I placed the dress under direct sunlight for about 20 minutes to let the magic happen. You'll notice the color begins to shift almost immediately as the UV light hits it, but the final shade won’t fully reveal itself until after you wash the fabric.
• Wash with SolarFast Wash: This special shampoo helps remove any undeveloped dye and sets the print so it lasts.
• Add artistic details: To make it more “me,” I painted some ferns by hand and added watercolor-like splatters on the back of my dress, a technique I often use in my paintings.
• Wash once again with SolarFast Wash.

Ferns placed on the white dress with SolarFast applied.	After 20 minutes of sunlight exposure.

You can find the products I used here:

* I used approximately 6 oz of dye to paint the entire front of the dress and add a few brushstrokes on the back.

USA

• Jacquard SolarFast Dye - Blue, 4 oz
• Jacquard SolarFast Dyes and Kit
• Jacquard SolarFast Wash

UK

• SolarFast Blue Dye
  
• SolarFast Wash

WORLDWIDE

White Dress by Harem Pants

Watch the Transformation 

I made a short video to show you how the dress turned out: click here to watch it. It's so satisfying to see the ferns come to life in that vivid blue!

And one last exciting thing, I can almost tell you…
This dress and I are about to make a small appearance on TV. I can’t share when or where just yet, but keep an eye out, it’s happening soon!
Thanks for reading and for supporting my creative journey. I love finding new ways to merge my painting practice with the things I wear and live in.

With blue fingers and lots of joy,


Ingrid 💙

Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. I only share products I genuinely love and use in my creative practice. Thank you for supporting my work!