I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets?

Name: Gary J

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Country or region: Canada

Message: I have purchased a long sleeve polo that looked black. It is a blue black. I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets? If so should I double the water and salt amounts? FYI I've dyed this garment twice. It's 100% cotton and expensive. Please advise. Cheers. Gary J. Toronto.

Don't double the water. The key in doubling the dye is to make the dye more concentrated, so that the fabric takes up more dye. I don't think you should double the salt, either, unless the manufacturer specifically suggests doing so, because it makes the dye less soluble when you do. Reducing the dye solubility is a good thing right up until you overdo it enough that the dye all falls out of solution and collects at the bottom of the dyebath. Then you get very little color added to the fabric.

I don't think you should double the concentration of the Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, either, however, because this fiber reactive dye already contains a high-pH (highly alkaline) ingredient in the mix, trisodium phosphate, which acts to set the dye. This ingredient is analogous to the soda ash used with Procion MX dyes. If you do not dilute the packet exactly as described in the product instructions, the pH will be higher than is desired, and may not work as well. It's a lot simpler to double dye concentration when you're working with a dye to which the helper chemicals have not yet been added, such as Procion MX dye; to use Procion MX dye, you add the soda ash separately, so it's very easy to double or even quadruple dye concentration.

What you should do to get the best color from black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is to increase the temperature at which you do the dyeing. The black color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye is a Remazol dye that is happiest at 60°C to 80°C (140°F to 176°F). An easy way to increase the temperature, in addition to starting with sufficiently hot tap water, is to place your bucket that has the dye and fabric in it inside of a large container that is filled with very hot water. What I do is fill my kitchen sink with very hot water, just to the same depth as the dyebath inside the bucket, and rest my bucket in the sink. Or, I use a metal-free container to soak the fabric in the dye, cover the container tightly with plastic wrap, and microwave it, watching very closely. As soon as the plastic wrap on the top of the container started to inflate upwards with steam, I turn off the microwave. I feel the outside of the container to make sure it is hot, then allow it to cool gradually to room temperature, before rinsing with cool water and finally washing out excess dye with hot water.

Something you should also consider is that the black Dylon Permanent Hand Dye naturally has a somewhat bluish cast to it. If you overdye your black polo with an orange dye, it will counter the blue effect, and make the shirt into a darker black. You can buy an orange color of Dylon Permanent Hand Dye.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the shirt has some sort of surface finish on it, for the purpose of making it wrinkle-free, or reducing the tendency of the fabric to pill, which partially prevents dyes from reaching it, so that dyes have less effect than you'd like. You absolutely cannot dye it if it has been marketed as being stain-resistant. Stain-resistant treatments resist dye.

If you ever tire of using Dylon hand dye, and have other dyeing projects that you want to do, I recommend that you check out the dye supply company G&S Dye, which is located in Toronto. They do a lot of mail-order, but I think they also have a storefront that you can visit. Their products include Procion MX dye, which is similar in quality to Dylon Permanent Hand Dye, but less expensive per unit of fabric dyed, and with a vastly wider range of colors available, including clear bright mixing primaries for making your own colors. Dylon does not carry colors that are suitable for use in mixing your own colors.

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Posted: Tuesday - September 07, 2010 at 06:24 AM

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I've dyed it twice with Dylon Perm Fabric Dye hand dye. Can I make it more black by doubling the packets?

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