After dyeing my wool fibres have lost their silky feel. How do I regain their silky softness?

Name: Jacki

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Message: After dyeing my wool fibres have lost the silky feel of the original product, but are not felted. How do I obtain the silky softness of the commercial product?

Sometimes the loss of softness in dyed wool is permanent, due to fiber damage caused by a high pH or too much friction or agitation. I hope yours will turn out to be temporary and fixable.

There are two things you can try now: restore the natural pH of the wool, and use a really good fabric softener.

To correct the pH of the wool, rinse it in water to which you have added vinegar. Use four tablespoons (one-quarter cup) of vinegar per gallon of water, or 60 milliliters per four liters of water. It's best to use ordinary distilled white vinegar, labeled 5% acidity, but any vinegar will work. Always be sure to neutralize your wool or silk after exposing it to soap or other high-pH chemicals.

For a really good fabric softener, don't bother with the fabric softeners sold in grocery stores. Order an unscented concentrated fabric softener from a good dye supplier. PRO Chemical & Dye calls their fabric softener PROsoft K, while Dharma Trading Company sells Milsoft for the same purpose. Jacquard Products simply labels their version as Fabric Softener. All three brands are greatly superior to grocery-store fabric softeners. Experiment to see whether one of them works for you.

If your water supply is very hard, you should also add the water softener sodium hexametaphosphate at every stage of dyeing, or use distilled water. Order this water softener from your dye supplier, which may label it as Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Metaphos, Water Softener, or Calgon, not to be confused with Calgon brand products that have different active ingredients. Don't use grocery-store Calgon products, because they contain polycarboxylates, which can interfere with dyeing. A water softener will not soften your wool, but it will prevent added harshness caused by the mineral deposits from hard water.

If your wool is still harsh after taking every possible corrective step, then you will need to make changes in your dyeing technique in the future. Damage to wool can be the result of sudden temperatures changes or too much handling or stirring. It can also result from chemical factors, such as a high pH caused by using soda ash or other chemicals used in vat dyeing, or from using too much mordanting chemical, such as alum, in natural dyeing. Soap can be damaging, too; many wool dyers recommend the use of a pure sodium lauryl sulfate cleaner sold in the US as Orvus Paste.

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Posted: Saturday - July 07, 2012 at 08:58 AM

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After dyeing my wool fibres have lost their silky feel. How do I regain their silky softness?

Acid Dyes

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