OK, I got everything now [Procion MX dye, soda ash, and Synthrapol], so what method do I do since I can't use the washing machine? I want a nice solid bright color.

You'll need to use a large bucket. A five-gallon bucket is ideal. You can get these at the hardware store, or sometimes for free from a restaurant. The bucket needs to be large enough for the fabric to move freely in, when you stir it in the water plus dye. If the clothing cannot move freely in the water when stirred, you will get uneven results, with some areas of the fabric darker than others. 

You will also need something to stir with: a long-handled plastic spoon, or a nice clean stick. Don't use a metal spoon unless it is stainless steel, because other metals will react with the soda ash.

You will need to buy a lot of salt. Any sort of salt will work. It doesn't really matter whether it is iodized salt or not, although it is traditional to use non-iodized salt. You can get it at the grocery store, probably about two boxes. What you have in the kitchen already will probably not be enough. For a five-gallon bucket, you will want to prepare a three-gallon dyebath, which will require about three cups of salt for every pound of fabric. How much do your jeans weigh? Do you have a scale you can weight them on? They might be about one pound. 

Before you try to dye them, you want your jeans to be as white as possible, without destroying them with bleach. This you can do in the washing machine without alarming your mother. (Dyeing in a washing machine will also not hurt it, but there is no reason to alarm your mother, when you can use a large plastic bucket instead.) Be careful not to pour the bleach on your clothing. Assuming that you have a top-opening washing machine, fill the washing machine with water first and add the bleach. Run the machine for a minute or two, to allow the bleach to mix with the water, and then add the clothing to the washer and allow the cycle to complete, including rinsing. If you have a front-loading washing machine, the instructions for bleaching may be different, but your mother or father will probably be able to help you. I am not sure how much bleach you should use. Try one cup of chlorine bleach (also labeled household bleach) in a full washing machine. If this is not sufficient, repeat with a larger amount of bleach. Make sure that all of the bleach is rinsed out of your clothing before you try to dye it.

If your jeans are not white, you will get a different, darker color with your purple dye than if you dye something that is white. Blue jeans will produce completely different results than white ones, and not nearly as bright. The results of dyeing blue jeans can still be very good, however. If you bleach blue jeans, you may be able to get them to a pale shade of blue, but you will not be able to get them completely white. The bleach will damage the fiber a little, making your jeans softer but also likely to get holes in them more quickly. For best results, buy some white 100% cotton jeans.

You will want to work in an area where you will not ruin the floor if you spill a little dye. Ceramic tile or vinyl sheet flooring is ideal. If you must work in a room that has carpeting, you will need to use something plastic to protect the carpet. An old plastic shower curtain is great for this, if it does not have any holes in the middle, or a plastic drop cloth. If you spill a little dye on a vinyl or tile kitchen or bathroom floor, you should be able to wash it up, but dye spilled on the grout between tiles can make a permanent stain. You can work with your bucket outside, but you will need to have access to warm water. If it's already cold where you live, the hose water will not be warm enough. You can carry smaller bucketsful of warm water from inside.

You said earlier that you'd ordered three different shades of purple. You will want to do a little test to decide which is the color you want. Mix a tiny amount of dye powder with water, and spread it on a white cotton rag, a piece of white paper, or a white paper towel, to see how it looks. This will give you a rough idea of the color.

Be careful not to wear good clothes while you use dye. Small spatters of dye can ruin a garment. Wear old clothes or clothing that will not be ruined by spots of color.

You will need a small glass or plastic pitcher or quart jar to mix your dye in before you add it to the dye bath in the five-gallon bucket. Start by adding just a spoonful or so of water to your dye powder. Be careful not to breathe the dye powder, as it can cause allergies. Wear a dust mask while mixing your dye powder because it can puff up into the air. After you have mixed your dye with a little water until it is like a paste, add a little more water, stir it in, and then add more water. Leave the dye to sit for a little while, then come back and stir some more. Sometimes the red dye in the mixture is difficult to dissolve; it can make tiny red dots on your fabric. If you want to be careful to avoid this, you can strain your dye, after you dissolve it in water, by pouring it through either a coffee filter or the toe-end of a nylon stocking or discarded panty hose. By filtering your dye mixture, you can avoid getting red dots caused by tiny clumps of dye. The dots are very tiny and some people do not mind them, and not all jars of dye form clumps like this. Some people use a tablespoon of urea for each cup of the water that they dissolve their dyes in, to make it dissolve a little more easily; this is optional but will do no harm. Urea is not nearly as important in bucket dyeing as it is in tie-dyeing.

How much dye should you use? For a medium shade close to the color of the dye chip shown by the company where you bought your dyes, use about a tablespoon of dye powder. Use more for a darker or more intense color; use less for a paler color.

Now you can start to create your dyebath. Put three gallons of warm water into your five-gallon bucket. If you have a measuring cup, one gallon is sixteen cups or four quarts. Dissolve your salt in this warm water by stirring. After the salt is completely dissolved, add your dye. Stir the dye in. After the dye is completely dissolved, add your clothing. Stir it every minute or two, for twenty minutes. This is to allow the dye to distribute throughout the fabric.

Now, dissolve your soda ash in a jar or large measuring cup of water, using a plastic or stainless steel spoon to stir it. This is easiest in water that is about 95°F, near body temperature. Soda ash is more difficult to dissolve in cold or hot water. You will want to use about one-third cup of soda ash for every pound of fabric. Once it is dissolved, add just a little bit of the soda ash to your dyebath, stirring frequently. It is only after you add the soda ash that the dye will start to react with the cotton fiber in your jeans. Adding it a little at a time helps to make the final color more solid and smooth. Add one-third of the soda ash, stir it constantly for five minutes, add another one-third of the soda ash, stir constantly for another five minutes, then add the last part of the soda ash, and stir constantly for another five minutes. The stirring is very important if you want a single smooth solid color. Continue to stir at least once per minute for another forty-five minutes, to allow the dye time to react with the cotton, in the presence of the soda ash.

When you are done with the dyebath, after about an hour, you can dump out the dye and wash your jeans in the washing machine. You can rinse them first in cool water. You can do this outside with the hose if you like. You want to rinse or wash out all of the soda ash-containing dyebath before you use hot water on the jeans. After you have rinsed or washed them in cool water, you will need to wash them in hot water. Synthrapol is a detergent that is ideal for this. You can use other detergents instead, though, if you have to. Wash your freshly dyed clothing twice in very hot water to remove the excess unattached dye.

The above method, using a five-gallon bucket, is exactly like the washing machine method, except that you use only one-eighth as much of everything as you would use in the washing machine. For more information, see the following page:

How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?

Please let me know how your dyeing goes.


(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)