Archives for March, 2010

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

how to create a watercolor/spatter effect on silk chiffon for a prom dress

Name: Mary

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Country: US

Message: I'd like to create a watercolor/spatter effect on silk chiffon for a prom dress. What do you recommend? I assume I'll need to dye about 6 yards. If the dye is thin enough, I'll use an insecticide sprayer to apply it. Blurring is fine, even desirable.

There are lots of possibilities, because silk is very easy to dye. The very easiest for a beginning dyer would be to get a good tie-dye kit, such as the Jacquard Products or Tulip brand tie-dyeing kits, and pretty much follow the instructions. With the Jacquard kit, you presoak the fabric in soda ash solution until it is saturated, then remove it from the bucket, squeeze out as much as is practical of the excess water, and spread the fabric out, either on a large plastic painter's dropcloth, or outside on the grass. Mix up the dyes as recommended—if there are any clumps of dye, stir them longer, and then filter througha coffee filter in a strainer—and then put them in a nice pump sprayer bottle like these Pump Pressure Spray Bottles from Dharma Trading Company. You could use the insecticide sprayer, too, if it's really clean. Well-dissolved dye is very thin. Wear a face mask or respirator while spraying, to avoid breathing in any fine droplets of dye; it's best to work outside, since stray droplets of dye are very good at ruining carpets and furnishings. After applying the dye, cover the fabric with plastic, so it doesn't dry out, and bring it into a warm place, 70°F or higher, overnight. The next day you can wash the excess dye out, using the hottest water the fabric can tolerate, and then drying it. It will be wonderful for sewing your prom dress. The advantage of using the Procion MX type of dyes that are found in all the good tie-dye kits (but unfortunately not the Rit brand tie-dye kit) is that no heat-setting is necessary.

(Here's a picture of a cotton t-shirt I dyed with the spray technique, using leaves as stencils, and here's the description of how I did it.)

Silk can also be dyed with acid dyes, which are named for the fact that they are used with a mild acid, such as diluted vinegar. You replace the soda ash in the above recipe with diluted vinegar, and the Procion MX dyes with acid dyes, or even all-purpose dye such as Rit, but then after applying the dye, you let it dry in the fabric, and then wrap it in layer upon layer of unprinted newsprint paper, and then steam it to set the dye. This is obviously more trouble than the tie-dye kit technique.

There are a number of different fabric paints that you can use, instead of dye, if you prefer. This simplifies matters by removing the need for steam-setting. Most fabric paints must be heat-set, but with dry heat, instead of the moist steam heat required by acid dyes. You can set the dye in the fabric by ironing it with a hot iron, which is much easier than steaming, though it may take a while to iron six yards. You can dilute the paints a little for spraying (add up to one-quarter as much water for fabric paints made by Jacquard Products), and, for watercolor effect, you can moisten the silk with water before spraying on the fabric paint.

Quality is very important in selecting your dyes. Avoid any sort of "puffy" or "slick" or "dimensional" fabric paint. You want only a very thin fabric paint, such as Dye-Na-Flow, which is a fabric paint made to be thin, like dye, or Lumiere, which includes some fantastic metallic and pearlescent colors that would give wonderful effects. Both Dye-Na-Flow and Lumiere are made by Jacquard Products. You might be able to find these dyes at your local crafts store; if not, order them from a mail-order crafts supplier such as Blick Art Materials, Mister Art, or Dharma Trading Company.

You may want to buy an extra yard or two, in case the silk gets a tiny hole in it on some part from all the washing. Be sure to be 100% real silk, not polyester. You can buy a silk-spandex blend, if you wish, if you're using either fabric paint or the tie-dye kit method.

I often receive questions about how to dye a ready-made prom dress or wedding dress, but your approach, dyeing the fabric before sewing the dress, is much wiser. You need have no worries about shrinkage, and you can be absolutely sure about the fiber content of your fabric. If you have difficulties buying suitable silk for dyeing, check out the selection online at either the Silk Connection (which is a division of the same company as Jacquard Products) or at Dharma Trading Company. They sell fabrics that you can be sure are 100% dyeable and free of any finishes or treatments that can interfere with dyeing. However, if you find some 100% real silk fabric locally, I believe it will dye up very nicely. Remember to prewash your fabric before dyeing or painting it.

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

looking for all-purpose dye in Australia

Name: Anna

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Country: Australia

Message: Hello,
I'm trying to dye lingerie composed of nylon and viscose. I have rung Dylon in Australia and they have discontinued their all purpose dye. I can't seem to find another brand or product suitable in Australia, can you suggest something?

All-purpose dye is a mixture of two types of dye, direct dye for the cellulose fibers (including cotton and viscose rayon) and acid dye for the polyamide fibers (including nylon and wool). (See "About All Purpose Dyes".)

For dyeing nylon without cellulose, I prefer premetalized acid dyes or Lanaset dyes. For dyeing cellulose without nylon, I prefer fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. These dyes are more colorfast than the dyes included in the all-purpose dye mixtures.

However, using a mixture of direct dyes with acid dyes allows you to dye both fibers in a single dyebath, which is a great convenience, when the very best washfastness is not required. It's also possible to considerably improve the washfastness of all-purpose dye by using an aftertreatment of a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, Fixitol P, or Kolourfix FF. (See "Commercial Dye Fixatives".)

I recommend that you call KraftKolour, which is located in Australia, to mail-order all-purpose dye. They carry Iberia Textile Dyes, which are all-purpose dye mixtures. As I write this, the Kraftkolour website is down, due to an attack on their website, so I will quote from their 2008 catalog for you:

IBERIA TEXTILE DYES
PRICE: $7.70/25g packet
[price includes 10% GST]
Multi purpose dye for use in hot water, 80 -100°C. 20 bright strong colours that will dye cotton, linen, viscose, wool, nylon & lycra. Packet contains 25gms of dye (in 2 x 12.5g sachets), perfect for the small dyeing job. Each packet will dye up to 700g of dry weight to a full shade.

YELLOW #1	ORANGE #20	SALMON #27	PINK #25
BRIGHT RED #23	GRANATE (Crimson)#12	WINE RED #7	VIOLET #36
BRILLIANT BLUE #2	LIGHT BLUE (Turq) #4	MOSS GREEN #32	BRIGHT GREEN #35
BOTTLE GREEN #30	DARK GREEN #33	LEATHER (Tan) #10	BROWN #18
COFFEE #8	NAVY #5	GREY #13	BLACK #21
DECOLORANT (Dye Stripper)

While you are ordering from them, you should be sure to get some Kolourfix FF , to improve the washfastness of all-purpose dye. KraftKolour also sells many other types of dye, including Procion MX, Drimarene K, and Remazol fiber reactive dyes for viscose rayon and cotton, and Premetallised Acid Dyes and other acid dyes for nylon and wool. Their phone number in Australia is 03 5783 1927, and their number for international calls is 61 3 57831927. (Unfortunately, this website has no affiliate relationship with Kraftkolour.)

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Monday, March 29, 2010

buying dye for a tie-dye fundraising project

Name: Nicole

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Country: USA

Message: Hi, my name is Nicole. I am currently getting ready to start a project for school, that involves making tie dye t-shirts. I will be making the shirts to sell. The money I raise will be donated to help the Breast Cancer Foundation. I would like to use RIT dye, but I can't afford as many colors as I would like. If you could please help me do this project, I would be very greatful. If you could please e-mail me back. Thank You again for your time, and I hope to be hearing from you.

Please do not use Rit brand all-purpose dye for your fundraising project. All-purpose dye is not colorfast when used for tie-dyeing. Your designs will run together, and they will fade quickly. There is no point to making a tie-dye t-shirt with all-purpose dye. Shirts dyed with all-purpose dye are not going to be good enough to sell.

Furthermore, Rit dye is expensive. Each $2 to $3 box contains enough dye to color only one shirt. It's a waste of money.

Far better than all-purpose dye would be a good tie dyeing kit (not the Rit one), which contains good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX or Permabril C dye. Go to your local crafts store or fabric store and look for a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard Products or by Tulip. They will cost about $1 for each shirt you dye. For even better prices, I recommend that you mail-order Procion MX dyes from Dharma Trading Company in California, or from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, or from Grateful Dyes in Colorado (choose the one closest to you to save on shipping costs and delivery time). Their dyes are extremely reasonably priced, and, like the dyes in the Jacquard or Tulip kits, both easy to use, and tremendously longer-lasting. One two-ounce jar of Procion MX dye powder, which costs $3 to $6 depending on color, is sufficient to dye twelve t-shirts. That cuts your costs dramatically right there. You'll also need sodium carbonate (soda ash), which you can order along with your dyes in a tie-dye kit, or buy from the swimming pool section of your hardware store.

You also need to consider what shirts you are going to dye. Do not dye shirts that are polyester blends or which have been treated for stain-resistance. Stain-resistant shirts will not dye well. If you order a case of shirts from Dharma Trading Company, the cost will be as low as $1.71 per shirt. Underwear-type shirts from the local discount department store will work, too, as long as they are 100% cotton and are not stain-resistant.

You will need a local source for start-up funds with which to purchase your materials. Ask your friends, your parents and other relatives, and the parents of your friends; it is best to obtain your start-up investment from people who know you and have an idea of how well suited this project is to your abilities. If you choose the economical sources of high-quality materials I suggest, you will be able to stretch this money much farther and make a good profit to turn over to your selected charity.

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

removing all-purpose dye from diapers

Name: Tara

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Country: Canada

Message: Hi Paula!

I have looked over your site, and have to a certain degree had my question answered, but would like your advice as to what to do now. My apologoies if it is overly redundant! I dyed my 100% cotton cloth diapers with Dylon all-purpose. I thought I had done my research, but I suppose I was overeager, and was also suckered in by an advice giver at the store. I knew I needed fiber reactive dye, but was unable to find procion anywhere in my city, and knew people had used Dylon - unfortunately I only found the wrong kind of Dylon.

Therefore, after many hot washes, of course the dye is not colorfast, and I obviously can not use the diapers on my infant. I see after extensive perusal of your site (so informative btw, thank you very much) that a dye fixative would NOT be considered safe to use on diapers. So my question for you is: What do you recommend I do? Cut my losses and write off the diapers, OR remove the dye somehow (??) and dye them again using the proper dye. I do appreciate your time and response.

If you're totally disgusted by the whole thing, of course you may delegate these diapers to the rag bin, but it's not really necessary.

What I would do is soak the diapers in hot water. Probably in really hot water - using a cheap styrofoam cooler as your container, pour boiling water from the stovetop over the diapers, and give them an occasional stir with a long-handled spoon, preferably one made of plastic rather than wood. This, by the way, is also the most efficient way to remove excess unattached dye after dyeing with good fiber reactive dyes; even boiling water won't remove fiber reactive dyes that have bonded to the fiber properly, but will help to remove just about everything else. Follow, after an extended soak as long as the water stays hot, by machine-washing in the hottest water available.

I think that running them through a washing machine cycle with household bleach wouldn't hurt, either. (Obviously I'm not an anti-bleach fanatic; I believe the amount of dioxin generated by this process is considerably less than some people imagine, and that tiny amounts of dioxin in humans appear to be significantly less dangerous than its overinflated reputation would suggest. Skip the bleach if it's not something you are willing to have in the house.)

After you've soaked and washed in really hot water, and possibly washed with bleach, I would not worry about the relatively small amounts of all-purpose dye remaining. Less dye remaining means less dye leaching out, and, besides, in spite of all their faults, all-purpose dyes have never been shown to be dangerous for wear. (In the 1970s and before, many all-purpose dye formulations included dangerous dyes based on benzidine, o-dianisidine, or tolidine, which did real harm to workers frequently exposed to high levels, but I very much doubt that Dylon has used any of these dyes since the eighties.)

As a side question: what exactly is Dylon labeling these all-purpose dyes as, these day? Is the name still Dylon Multi Purpose dyes? I'm asking because they do not market these dyes in the US. Can you get Dylon Machine Dyes in Canada? They are decent fiber reactive dyes that are popular for use with front-loading washing machines in Europe and Australia, but are not marketed in the United States, so I am wondering whether they are now marketed in Canada.

You best course of action after this will be to find fiber reactive dyes for your diapers. A good tie-dyeing kit would be a great start. (Avoid the Rit brand tie-dyeing kit, because, like all Rit products, in contains all-purpose dyes.) If, in a crafts store or fabric store, you see one of the tie-dyeing kits manufactured by Jacquard Products or by Tulip, that's a great choice. You can use other types of dye by Dylon, such as Dylon Hand Dye or Dylon Cold Dye or Dylon Permanent; these three contain excellent dyes, but they're not so good for color mixing; Dylon Permanent and Dylon Hand have all the auxiliary chemicals mixed in already, which makes then less versatile for different methods of dye application, and generally more expensive as well. There are three excellent choices for mail-ordering Procion MX dyes from within Canada, that I know about: Harmony Hand Dyes in Saskatchewan, G & S Dye in Toronto, and Maiwa Handprints in Vancouver. If you order from PRO Chemical & Dye or Dharma Trading Company in the US, the dye prices are lower, but then you have to bother with delays and customs fees.

If your diapers still have a trace of all-purpose dye color, you'll want to take that color into account when you plan what colors to add with your higher-quality dye.

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Saturday, March 27, 2010

trying to dye black a dress that is 65% polyester and 35% rayon

Name: Sharon

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Region: California, USA

Message: I've been trying to dye a dress that is 65% polyester and 35% rayon:

1) I tried dying it with "iDye by Jacquard Products" black for natural fabrics (silk, cotton, linen,wool and rayon); this left my light gray dress looking somehow darker, and reddish.

2) The second time, I used the same brand but the iDye Poly for 100% polyester and nylon; this left a better and more solid dark gray with reddish tones.

I'd like to dye this dress jet black. How and what dye to I need to use to acomplish this?
Thanks.

Your choice of dyes so far has been good. iDye is a direct dye that should work to color the rayon portion of the fiber blend, while iDye Poly is a disperse dye that should work to color the polyester portion of the fiber blend. You have to dye the two types of fiber with completely different dyes, because there is no dye that will work on cellulose fibers such as rayon or cotton, and also on totally synthetic fibers such as polyester.

There are two likely reasons why your color is not as dark now as you want it to be:

1. First, are you using the stovetop method? Both iDye and iDye Poly are hot water dyes and do not work nearly as well in hot tap water; iDye Poly in particular requires extended boiling, not just hot water, for best results. To color the polyester threads in your dress, cook your dress in iDye Poly at a boil for at least half an hour, preferably an hour, using any additions recommended in the recipe that came with the dye. To color the rayon fibers, either switch to a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, or cook your dress in iDye for at least half an hour at a simmer (187°F) or above. The manufacturers of the dye say that you can combine both dyes in one pot and apply them at the same time.

2. Second, getting a true black generally requires a lot more dye than other colors do, since it is so much darker than any other color. I recommend using two to four times as much dye for black. You should use more than one packet of dye at a time to get a truly dark black.

I personally don't like direct dyes, such as iDye, as much as I do fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes, for dyeing rayon, cotton, and other plant-based fibers. Direct dye is not as washfast as fiber reactive dye; that is, it tends to fade more quickly. However, I think that, if you use a dyeing temperature of 187°F and plenty of dye powder, iDye should work well enough, on the 35% of your dress that is made of rayon. You can significantly improve the washfastness of iDye by treating it after you are finished with dyeing with a cationic dye fixative; two brands of this product are Jacquard iDye Fixative, and Retayne. Don't use this dye fixative until after you have obtained the rich dark black color you want.

The key is to use plenty of dye and hotter temperatures. Will this be different from the way you did it in your first attempt? You need to use a cooking pot that is large enough for the dress to move in freely, in order to get solid-color results instead of a sort of tie-dye effect. Note that you should not plan to reuse a cooking pot for food preparation, though I'll admit that you are unlikely to come to any harm if you wash the pot extremely well after dyeing in it.

One caveat is necessary. It's possible that you did everything right, but that your dress is undyeable. If there is a permanent-press, anti-pill, or stain-resistant finish on the dress, it never will fully take the dye to the deep color that you want. Dresses that are sold as being PFD (Prepared For Dyeing), such as the dress blanks sold by Dharma Trading Company, are more-or-less guaranteed to take dye well, but dresses sold by clothing stores are not. Sometimes a commercial garment fails to dye well. However, I think there's a very good chance that increasing your dyeing temperature and amount of dye will work, in this case, though there can be no guarantee.

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Friday, March 26, 2010

using baking soda gives us faded-looking tie-dyes

Name: Penny

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Region: New England, USA

Message: Hi! I love the information you have about dyeing - thanks so much for putting it all together!

I'm working at a camp this summer, where we have tie dye every Friday. We have always wet the t-shirts in a baking soda solution before squirting on the MX dyes, and the shirts always end up faded looking. I notice you recommend against using baking soda at room temperatures, but that soda ash is caustic. We're looking for a safe option for campers that gives us better colors. Would baking soda work if the shirts were dried in the sun then put in a hot dryer before rinsing? Any other suggestions?

Thanks again!

It's not surprising that your colors are poor, if you're substituting sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for sodium carbonate (soda ash or washing soda). I think you really should switch to soda ash or washing soda. Many thousands of children use soda ash for tie-dyeing safely, with supervision, every year at summer camp.

Soda ash is not too caustic to use safely. Just be sure the kids tie their shirts before soaking them in the soda ash, either that or wear gloves when they tie them. If anyone accidentally gets soda ash on their hands, just have them rinse their hands in a bucket of water or under the hose, or at least wipe the soda ash solution off with a rag or paper towel.

What happens if you leave soda ash pre-soak on your hands is that your skin becomes dry and slightly irritated. It's easy to avoid this by wearing waterproof gloves and by removing the soda ash soon after it gets on the skin. It is important to wear gloves if you are touching soda ash; it's a good rule to follow with most household chemicals, and a good lesson for kids to learn. If anyone does get soda ash irritation, they should, after washing their hands, apply hand lotion in order to moisturize the skin.

Some people soak their shirts in the soda ash before tying them, but it's easier to either tie the shirts while they are still dry, or moisten the shirts with plain water before tying them. (The water helps in making tight ties.) It's okay to drop damp shirts into the soda ash to presoak. Make your soda ash presoak on the strong side, by dissolving one cup of soda ash in one gallon of water, and then you don't have to worry about diluting it with the extra moisture in the shirts.

Drying the shirts will make the baking soda work even worse than it does now. The dye-fiber reaction cannot take place in the absence of moisture. It is important to keep the dyed shirts moist, in the presence of the soda ash, long enough for the dye to react, either by mixing urea with the dyes (it's safe), or by covering the wet dyed fabric with plastic wrap. It's best to leave the shorts damp with the dye overnight, or in your case perhaps over the weekend, before washing them out. Or you can have the kids each pop their wet dyed shirts into an individual plastic bag (ziplocks are good for this) to stay damp, with instructions to keep the shirts in the bags overnight, and then wash the shirts out at home the following day. Tell them to wash them once in cool water, and then twice in very hot water, to remove any excess unattached dye.

I think your results will be much better after you switch to washing soda or soda ash. Please let me know.

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

transferring images to silk fabric

Name: Miriam

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Country: USA

Message: Hi. I have consulted your site on batiking more than once, and have found it helpful. I am now wondering about something else. I have been doing transfer disperse dye on polyester for a few years. I have made and sold polyester neckties and have also begun to work on large pieces - eight feet by six feet (using my 16" x 20" hot press!). Some of my male clients want me to print the neckties on silk, and some interior designers are interested in my large pieces, but have told me that their clients would prefer silk, not polyester.

My problem is that I cannot work on paper and then transfer these paintings (with the dye and fabric crayon work) on to silk, as I do with the polyester. I know that you can paint directly on silk, but that is an entirely different process. I have been wondering if I could do my disperse dye work as usual, take a giclee photograph of the work, and then use the giclee print/photo and get that transferred (somehow) on to silk. Do you know if this would be possible, or if there are dyes and crayons that would work on silk, doing a similar transfer process? Or, should I just accept that I can't work in a similar way on silk, and readjust? Any ideas? Also, this may or may not be relevant, but I would be printing only on vegan or peace silk.

There are several ways to print on silk. You'll need to do a fair amount of testing to see how well they work for you, and which you prefer.

1. The oldest method is to use the disperse transfer dyes, such as you have already been using on polyester, to temporarily transfer a design to silk, then paint over the image with silk dyes or fabric paints, or draw with good fabric markers, on top of the transfer. Disperse dyes have long been used for temporary transfers onto natural fibers; for example, embroidery transfers are made in this way. In some cases, some of the disperse dye will produce fairly long-lasting stains, so it's important to completely hide the transferred guidelines.

2. Another method is to buy pre-treated fabric, and print on it with an ordinary inkjet printer, such as you probably use right now for printing your letters and photos. (Inkjet printers are available in wider widths than standard inkjet printers, if needed). The fabric is treated to hold on to the inkjet pigments. Formerly, inkjet inks contained disperse dyes, but the trend among inkjet printer manufacturers for some years has been to substitute insoluble pigments for dyes. The newer pigment inks produce better lightfastness, but the washfastness is said to not be as good. I don't know how well they do in dry-cleaning.

One example of this pre-treated silk fabric is Jacquard Products' Print On Silk. It is available in rolls of 8.5 inches wide by 120 inches long. You will need to test to see whether it is adequately colorfast for your purposes, when used with your methods.

3. A third method is to prepare your own fabric in the same way, including ironing-on freezer paper (the Jacquard fabric already has this attached) to serve as a backing while printing your fabric in an inkjet printer. The product used for this purpose is called Bubble Jet Set. Quilt artist Caryl Bryer Fallert is one source who sells this and other products for printing on fabric; see her FAQ. This method would allow you to use your choice of silk fabrics.

4. A fourth method is to use inkjet iron-on transfers, which are intended for use only on natural fibers. These involve pigments, which are bound to the fabric using a heat-sensitive sort of glue. There are two basic types: one which is transparent and allows the color of the fabric to show through, and another intended for use on dark fabrics, in which an opaque white backing is included in the transfer. These will alter the hand of the fabric somewhat, and they tend to wear off with repeated machine washings, but they're an easy method which allows the transfer of photographic prints on a very small scale, without a large investment. Dharma Trading Company sells more than one type of inkjet transfer paper, as do most office supply stores.

5. Finally, the most expensive method, but possibly the most satisfactory one, is to send a photograph of your work to a custom fabric printing service, to have it printed onto fabric. It is possible for this process to be done using true silk dyes, rather than pigments which may affect the hand of the fabric, but I'm not sure how common this is; you will want to ask to find whether a custom printing service uses pigments or dyes, though either may meet your needs. I can't recommend a particular service for you. Try a web search for the words "custom digital fabric printing silk" (not in quotes). A drawback to this method is that it is unlikely that you will be able to select Peace Silk as an option.

I would like to know what method(s) you end up using, and how satisfactory you find them to be.

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looking for a fabric dyer in Toronto

Name: Carol

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Country: Canada

Message: We are a film costume house looking for a fabric dyer in Toronto. We do small and large amounts. Would you know anyone in the Toronto area? Thanks

I don't have a listing for a custom dyer in Toronto. There is one Canadian dyeing service listed on my page, "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?". Dye Pro Services will custom-dye fabric or clothing that you mail to them.

There's also a good dye supplier in Toronto, G&S Dye. You could contact them to ask whether they know of a local custom dyer that they could put you in touch with. Their phone number and web site are listed on my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".

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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Can I dye an acetate, nylon, and spandex dress BLACK?

Name: Olivea

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Region: New England

Message: Hi! This dress I am thinking about buying is a mixture of acetate, nylon, and spandex. (link) What is your suggestion for dying it BLACK, and is it even possible? Thank you so much!

I don't recommend that you buy this dress with the intent of dyeing it. Acetate, like polyester, should be dyed with a type of dye called Disperse Dye, which requires extended boiling for application, but spandex is an extremely heat-sensitive fiber that will be destroyed by any boiling.

When I follow your link, I see a dress that is described as being made of polyester. If it is 100% polyester, with no spandex, then it can be dyed, though with some difficulty, using disperse dye that you purchase by mail-order. You will not be able to dye polyester with any dye that works on natural fibers, such as Procion fiber reactive dye or Rit all-purpose dye. (See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".) Polyester/spandex blends cannot be dyed at all, for the same reason as acetate/spandex blends; these blends are invariably made from predyed yarns.

The dress in the picture I see has a dramatic black, white, and brown print. In general, prints like this cannot be dyed a completely solid color. Since all dyes are transparent, the original color always shows through, at least a little. The sections that were originally black will always be slightly darker than the portions that were originally white. This can produce a nice subtle tone-on-tone effect, or it might just look wrong to you, depending on the design on the specific garment.

It is better, when buying a dress to dye, to purchase only PFD dresses. "PFD" stands for "Prepared For Dyeing". Dresses that are not labeled as being suitable for garment-dyeing have a small but very real risk of not dyeing satisfactorily, even if their fiber content is easily dyeable. If you have an old dress that's worth taking a risk with, you can try dyeing it even if it is not PFD, but it's not really a good idea to buy a non-PFD dress in order to dye it, since sometimes dyeing won't work quite right.

An excellent source for PFD dresses is Dharma Trading Company; see, for example, their short dresses for juniors. Since the dresses are made of cotton or rayon, sometimes with some spandex, they dye beautifully with cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. Cool water dyes don't require you to buy an expensive pot to be used only for dyeing, as hot-water dyes like Rit or Disperse dye do. It is far easier, and less expensive, too, to dye cotton or rayon, instead of acetate or polyester.

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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

dyeing a pair of pale blue suede trousers

Name: Debi

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Country or region: Ontario, Canada

Message: I was thinking of dyeing a pair of pale blue suede trousers that have faded & become shop stained. Can this be done? (They were originally a very expensive italian made brand - that were a thrift find,so good quality & soft - don't really want to lose the "hand" too much either.) Thanks for any help/info.

If you can wash them, you can dye them. You can't dye anything that is not washable.

If you decide it's worth taking the risk, go ahead and wash your pants first; it is very important to thoroughly pre-wash any item you wish to dye. You won't be able to dye your trousers if they have been treated with any sort of water-resistant stain-protective finish.

Suede and other types of leather are susceptible to damage from heat, so my choice for dyeing them would be a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dyes. After dyeing, you will probably need to resoften the suede with some sort of conditioner.

An alternative to washing and dyeing would be to try to use a commercial suede conditioner to improve the appearance of your trousers.

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Monday, March 22, 2010

preventing holes when bleaching and then dyeing

Name: cody

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Dye Removal Chemicals

Country: Canada

Message: So if I was to get rid of color with bleach, Anti-Chlor will not cause holes in the fabric? Because after I take the color out, I will be re-dyeing the fabric again with Pro MX dyes. Like once they're dyed AGAIN will the color not bleed and stay? and the fabric won't have holes from the bleach? THANKS.

Anti-chlor will not cause holes in the fabric, when used as directed. Hypochlorite bleach (which is ordinary household bleach, also known as chlorine bleach) very often will cause holes, sooner or later, if you don't neutralize it with Anti-chlor or another neutralizing chemical. Anti-chlor and other neutralizing chemicals can make a huge difference in how long your fabric will last after bleaching. See "How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach?".

The right order for bleaching and dyeing:

Prepare Anti-chlor bath in bucket, basin, tub, or washing machine
Apply bleach (using care since household bleach is quite toxic)
As soon as color has discharged to your satisfaction, immediately rinse the bleach out with plenty of water
Plunge bleached item into Anti-chlor bath and soak for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally (or as directed on the label)
Wash the item
Dye as usual

Use hypochlorite bleach only on 100% natural non-protein fibers, such as 100% cotton, 100% linen, or 100% hemp. Avoid its use if your fabric's fiber content includes any spandex, polyester, nylon, wool, or silk. You can use a reductive Color Remover instead on those fibers. See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

Having been bleached will not make your fiber less suitable for dyeing, as long as you've neutralized the bleach and washed out the neutralizing chemical. Procion MX dyes will last extremely well if they are applied to dyeable fibers using a good recipe. Bleaching the fiber as white as possible beforehand makes the colors you apply show up more brightly.

Note that not all colors can be removed from commercially dyed fabric or yarn, because there's no way to know what dye was used. Some dyes bleach out much better than others. If bleach fails on a particular piece of fabric, it's possible that Color Remover might work, especially if heated to a simmer on the stovetop. (Do not heat bleach.) If you try both types, both the bleach and Color Remover, be sure to wash your fabric thoroughly in between the two steps.

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

what dyes to use for reproducibly dyeing silk for needle-painting

Name: Jan

Region: BC, Canada

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Lanaset Dyes

Lanaset Dyes are among the very best dyes for hand-dyeing wool, silk, angora, mohair, and most nylons. You will also need: citric acid, sodium acetate, Glauber salt, Albegal SET, and Synthrapol.

Buy from
Paradise Fibers

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Books that explain how to use Lanaset dyes

Shibori: Creating Color and Texture on Silk
by Karren Brito

Color in Spinning
by Deb Menz
mixing your own colors with Lanaset dyes

The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook
by Lynne Vogel

Synthetic Dyes for Natural Fibers
By Linda Knutson

Message: Dear Paula,

First and foremost ... many thanks for your excellent and informative web site. Your hard work is much appreciated. I do hand embroidery called needle-painting. So, the perfect colors are critical. About a month ago I was saying to myself, “Wouldn’t it be fantastic if I stock up on Soie Surfine (white only) and find the way how to dye it myself … in exact shades I need?” I would also buy black as it is difficult to dye silk black well. But rest of the colors I would like to dye myself.

Color theory is not a problem. Because of my scientific background and my love for colors, I use to mix my own watercolor pigments for decades. However, to dye silk would be a different story. I need absolute consistency (repeatability), "true" results (using cyan-yellow-magenta-black model) and perfectly light-fast colors.

In your opinion … which dyes and dyeing method would bring best results? Please remember that I am after quality. So, the cost doesn’t matter. Also, I have an analytical lab … so I can measure in accuracy of parts per billion or finer, if I need to.

Of course Procion MX would be the most convenient, but I am scared by all those people claiming that colors in Procions always shift with silks. Is this the case in acid use of Procions as well? What would be great about Procion MX are the excellent primaries.

I’d looked at Lanaset dyes. They seems to be good, but I was not able to pin down really good (CMYK) primaries at that line. That, of course, is a fatal flaw as I will rely on computer models to help me to get the exact shades I need.

Hi Jan,

I think the most important point for you will be that you should dye by weight, not by volume. It's faster easier to measure out a teaspoonful of dye, but the results can be unpredictable, which is fine for many dyers, but not what you, in particular, want to obtain. If you always weigh your silk, your dye powder, and any auxiliaries, it will be possible for you to have quite consistent results. There can be a little variation from one jar of dye to another, but in general you will be able to repeat a color, if you are careful to always use the same weight of dye for a given weight of silk. Given your scientific background this should be easy for you to manage.

There are several different lines of dye that you could use for excellent results.

You could use a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX or Cibacron F. You could combine the single-hue unmixed colors yourself to make your own mixtures of any hue. These are the most washfast of dyes, if you use them with soda ash. On the other hand, soda ash will slightly reduce the luster of your silk. I would imagine that that might be important to your needle-painting. It could work fine, but it's not what I recommend for you. Procion MX dye mixture colors shift less when used with acid instead of soda ash, but they're not the most washfast of dyes when used without soda ash. I don't see any real point to buying a fiber reactive dye specifically to use it with acid. It's handy for people who already have Procion dyes for dyeing plant fibers to be able to use them as acid dyes, by substituting vinegar or citric acid for the soda ash, and adding heat, but when used this way the fiber reactive dyes are not always as satisfactory as other lines of acid dye.

The second-best line of acid dyes available for dyeing silk and other protein fibers is the WashFast Acid dye line. These include excellent dyes, which are very popular and successful. On the other hand they are not as washfast as the Lanaset dyes, which I regard as the very best dyes for protein fibers, and some few of the WashFast Acid dyes are not very lightfast, either.

Your problem with the Lanaset dyes is, no doubt, the lack of a good magenta. I don't think that this should stop you. There are two reds that are very popular among expert dyers of silk and wool, Polar Red (whose generic name is Colour Index Acid Red 131) and WashFast Acid Magenta 338 (whose generic name is Colour Index Acid Red 138). WashFast Acid dyes are sold not only by PRO Chemical & Dye in the US, but also by Maiwa Handprints in Vancouver. Although I've never ordered from Maiwa, they have an excellent reputation; you'll probably want to buy your dyes from them, given your location. You will need to call them to ascertain which dye they sell, among the Washfast Acid dyes, is Acid Red 138. Maiwa also sells the Lanaset dyes, under the brand name Telana. Telana dyes are identical to Lanaset dyes in every respect. Maiwa labels their WashFast Acid dyes "Ciba WashFast Acid dyes", because until recently Ciba was the manufacturer of these dyes, though their dyeing division has since been sold to Huntsman Textile Effects. Note that the Lanaset/Telana/Sabraset Jet Black is the very best black dye for silk available to hand dyers in North America.

I would like to recommend a book to you, by Deb Menz, called Color in Spinning. I know that you're not spinning your own yarn, and neither am I. However, among all the material on spinning (which makes me wish I had time to take up a new hobby!) Deb Menz provides excellent information on dyeing with Lanaset dyes, including specific color mixing formulas for dyeing wool. I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is dyeing with Lanaset dyes, regardless of whether or not they are spinning their fiber. She refers to the dyes under the brand name "Sabraset", which is what PRO Chemical and Dye labels these dyes as, but, just as with Telana, Sabraset Dyes are identical to Lanaset dyes. Of course, even when using Deb Menz's formulas, you'll still have to do a certain amount of trial and error to get exactly the shades you wish, but careful measurements and good record keeping are all you need to do well with that. I'm not sure how well your existing computer models, which are designed for use with pigments, will translate to any specific set of dyes, but I am sure that you can obtain all of the colors you want with the Lanaset line of dyes, and you will find the high washfastness and lightfastness to be very suitable for your needle-painting.

Please let me know what you decide to do, and how well it works out for you. I'm sure your background will help in your dyeing. My own background in biochemistry and biology has proved invaluable in my dye work.

For more information on Lanaset dyes, see "Looking for either a web or printed book reference with Lanaset color recipes" (my dyeing Q&A blog post from November 25, 2009), as well as the pages linked at the bottom of that post.

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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Can I use ascorbic acid in place of citric acid when dyeing with an acid dye?

Name: Grace

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Washfast Acid dyes
at Paradise Fibers

Washfast Acid dyes
Also known as Nylomine dyes, excellent for use on wool, silk, and nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!

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Country: USA

Message: Can I use ascorbic acid in place of citric acid when dyeing with an Acid dye?

That's an interesting question! I don't recommend doing so, but I am sure that it could work, if you use the right amount of ascorbic acid powder to achieve the same pH that you normally use for a particular dye.

I don't advise substituting ascorbic acid for citric acid, largely because of their relative cost: powdered ascorbic acid typically costs $14 to $20 a pound, while citric acid costs only about $4 a pound. Using a nutrient in place of citric acid seems wasteful, when all you want is the acidity. (It's easy to find sources for citric acid to buy, as mentioned in an earlier blog entry here; most dye suppliers sell citric acid inexpensively, as does Amazon, as well as home brewing suppliers.) Note also that crushed vitamin C pills are not at all the same thing as pure ascorbic acid powder, because other ingredients are added in the process of making pills, such as lactose or magnesium stearate.

(I've known several people who confused these two different chemicals. Thanks to the coincidence that citrus fruits contain both citric acid and ascorbic acid, many people think that citric acid is the same thing as vitamin C, when, as you probably already know, only ascorbic acid is vitamin C.)

Beginning dyers usually start by using distilled white vinegar as their acid, for dyeing with acid dyes. Distilled white vinegar, in the US, is 5% acetic acid, unless labeled otherwise, though it is possible to buy distilled vinegar at strengths up to 10%, usually sold for cleaning purposes. Advanced dyers may use the concentrated form, glacial acetic acid, which contains 56% acetic acid, because it takes a lot less space and may end up costing less, but glacial acetic acid can be quite dangerous to work with. (Always add acid to water, not water to acid; when possible use pipettes instead of pouring the acid; and wear goggles or a face shield, in addition to reliable waterproof gloves and protective clothing.) You can substitute one-eleventh as much glacial acetic acid in dye recipes that call for vinegar.

Citric acid makes an excellent substitute for vinegar or acetic acid, because it's safer to work with than glacial acetic acid, it's less expensive to ship since it's in powdered form, and it does not boil off, causing unpleasant odors in the workspace, as acetic acid does. PRO Chemical and Dye recommends substituting one teaspoon of citric acid powder for one teaspoon of glacial acetic acid, though it's better to consult a specific recipe, if possible, that tells you just how much citric acid to use with your particular dye.

If you want to substitute ascorbic acid for citric acid, how much should you use? As a general rule, try to produce the same pH in your dyebath as you have already been using. One way to do this is to make up an identical dyebath, with the exception of not including the dye, so that you can see the color of your pH paper. Test the pH when you make up your dyebath (without dye) according to your usual vinegar or citric acid recipe, and then duplicate the dyebath without the acid, this time adding the ascorbic acid until you reach that same pH. How much ascorbic acid is likely to be required? The pH of a 21 gram-per-liter solution solution of citric acid is 2.2. Ascorbic acid, in contrast, produces a solution with a pH of 3 if you use 5 milligrams per liter, and it produces a pH of 2 if you use 50 grams per liter, so you might estimate that twice as much ascorbic acid is required, by weight. Since the density of ascorbic acid, 1.65 grams per milliliter, is not far from that of citric acid, at 1.54 grams per milliliter, you can estimate that you might use about twice as much ascorbic acid by volume, as well. Note that this is just an estimate, since both citric acid and ascorbic acid are what are known as weak acids; the performance of weak acids is a little bit complicated and very difficult to calculate, since they don't fully dissociate into ions when dissolved in the same way strong acids do. It is best to test your recipe, making the dye-less dyebath to determine for certain how much ascorbic acid will give the same pH as your usual recipe that uses vinegar or citric acid.

It's important to adjust the pH of your dyebath to a suitable degree for the type of dye you are using. For a weak acid dye such as the WashFast Acid Dyes, the desired pH in the final dyebath is only mildly acidic or even neutral, between 5.0 and 7.5. In contrast, strong acid dyes such as the Kiton dyes, or as Procion dyes when they're used with acid instead of soda ash, the desired pH is considerably lower, typically between 2.5 and 3.5, so a larger amount of acid must be used when dyeing with these dyes. Using a lower pH than is optimal will tend to reduce the levelness of your dye color, resulting in more variation in color intensity between different parts of your fabric or yarn.

If you do decide to go ahead and use ascorbic acid in place of citric acid, please let me know how it works out.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

a silk wrap dyed in the colors of a rainbow

Name: jackie

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Region: denver co.

Message: I am very new at this; I have taken one class. I have had a vision of silk dyed in the colors of a rainbow. This will be used in color healing, and could double as a wrap. Any help with dye product and technique would be greatly appreciated. Thank You Jackie

The simplest way to do this is to buy a good tie-dyeing kit (such as the Jacquard Tie Dye Kit, or a kit from Dharma Trading Company or PRO Chemical & Dye), plus some extra plastic squirt bottles.

The kit you buy should come supplied with the standard three primary colors of turquoise, magenta, and lemon yellow. Mix the dyes as recommended, and then use the extra bottles to mix in-between colors. Put one-quarter of your turquoise dye liquid and one-quarter of your magenta dye liquid into a clean bottle to make purple. Combine one-quarter of your lemon yellow with one-quarter of your magenta to make orange. Combine one-quarter of your turquoise with one-quarter of your lemon yellow to make green.

You can also put a small amount of magenta plus a lot of turquoise into another bottle to get true blue, and a small amount of yellow plus a large mount of magenta into yet another bottle to get true red.

You'll probably want to buy a silk sarong or large silk scarf from Dharma Trading Company or Jacquard Products' Silk Connection. It's very convenient to have your fabric pre-hemmwed, and their prices are excellent. There are many different weights and weaves of silk, any of which would be wonderful, in different ways, for your project. The sarongs are typically 48 inches by 72 inches, a good size to wrap yourself in. Prewash the silk before dyeing it.

Next, soak your silk fabric in soda ash (dissolved in water), exactly as described for the Procion MX tie-dyeing recipe. (The good tie-dye kits I recommend contain Procion MX dye.) Squeeze out the extra liquid, then lay the fabric out, either flat or loosely gathered lengthwise, or hang it on a line, handy for you to drip dye over it. Apply your stripes in rainbow/color wheel order: yellow-orange-red-magenta-purple-blue-turquoise-green-yellow, repeating if you like, starting and stopping at whatever point on that rainbow circle you prefer. Most dyers use the yorker-top bottles to squirt and drip the dye directly on the fabric, but you can also use a number of foam paintbrushes to apply the dissolved dye, if you prefer.

Since the fabric is wet and the dyes are unthickened, the dyes will run together, giving a more gradual color change. Start with a wider band of yellow than you expect to want, because the green and orange on each side will creep into it.

After your dye is all applied, keep the fabric moist overnight in order to allow the dyes to form a chemical bond to the silk fiber. If you used urea in your dye mixtures, this will keep the fabric moist without covering (unless your air is very dry); otherwise, cover in plastic. The dye reaction can occur only as long as the fabric is moist. Be sure the place you leave the fabric overnight is warm enough, 70°F or warmer. If you're working outdoors and the weather's below 70°F, cover the fabric in plastic wrap, to keep one color from contaminating another, then roll up the wet dyed fabric and carry it inside to a warmer place in a bucket or plastic bag.

The following day, wash the excess unattached dye out, using cool water at first to remove the soda ash, then hot water to remove all of the excess unattached dye. If you let the reaction go overnight in a warm place, there will be no problem afterwards with getting dye on the wrong part of your fabric and becoming permanent there, because any dye that transfers after the overnight will be temporary, and removable with very hot water.

There are other ways to get smoother, even more subtle gradients/ombré designs (see discussions in the dye forum here and here, for example), and silk can also be dyed with acid dyes, instead of fiber reactive dyes, but this is the very best method for a beginning dyer to use, and your results will be beautiful.

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Must you use soda ash with thickened Procion dyes for painting?

Name: Deborah

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Region: California

Message: When using thickened dyes (Procion with sodium alginate) must you use soda ash? Should you paint first then soak in soda ash? Can you soak first, dry the cloth, then paint it? Also, which is better for painting with thickened dyes, wet fabric or dry, or does it depend on what effect you're going for? I searched and only found that some put soda ash into the dye paint itself.

You must use soda ash, or another high-pH chemical such as sodium silicate, to set your Procion dyes, whether or not they are thickened with sodium alginate. However, you don't have to mix the soda ash with the dye.

You certainly can soak the fabric in soda ash and then line-dry it before painting it. I do not recommend using a clothes dryer to dry the fabric, because it's a bad idea to get soda ash into the dryer; it's a lot of trouble to clean the clothes dryer, but a residue of unrinsed soda ash in clothing can be irritating. Line-drying the soda ash in the fabric to be painted works very well.

Painting onto wet fabric is good for a watercolor effect. Painting on dry fabric is better if you want edges or fine details. You should try both to see what a difference it makes in the way the dye paint moves on the fabric.

It is very important, if you are painting soda-soaked fabric, whether wet or dry, to pour out just enough of your dye paint to use in half an hour or so. Your paintbrush, if you're using one, will carry enough soda ash back to your dye paint to make it start to react with the water. Expect this minute amount of soda ash to be sufficient to make the dye paint hydrolyze, or go bad, within less than an hour. Once this has occurred, the dye paint will not look any different, but the dye will lose its ability to bond to the fabric. If you are extremely strict about not allowing it to become contaminated with soda ash, your Procion MX dye stock solution should stay good for at least a week at room temperature, or longer in the refrigerator. Procion H dyes will last considerably longer in solution, but they must be steamed to set your painted dye design.

Your fabric should be made of a dyeable fiber, such as cotton, rayon (the viscose type of rayon), linen, or silk. Be sure it has not been treated to make it permanent-press or stain-resistant.

The two alternatives to presoaking your fabric are to add soda ash to your dye paint just before use, or else allow your unfixed dye painting to dry, and then paint over it with a sodium silicate solution. In each case, the soda ash or other high-pH chemical will activate the cellulose in the fabric so that it can react with the Procion dye.

For more information, see my page, "What is soda ash, and what's it used for in dyeing?".

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Sunday, March 07, 2010

looking for the most suitable dye for alpaca fiber and yarn

Name: Ruth

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Dyes for Wool and Other Protein Fibers

Lanaset Dyes

Region: Michigan, US

Message: I am looking for the most suitable dye for alpaca fiber and yarn. I am aiming to produce color fast colors and thereby keep my alpaca yarn top quality. Thank you.

You can dye alpaca with any dye that works on wool. The best, most wash-fast dyes for animal fibers that are available to hand dyers in the US are the Lanaset dyes. See my page, "Lanaset Dyes: A Range of Reactive and Acid Dyes for Protein Fibers". Unlike other types of acid dyes, the Lanaset dyes are very washfast; you can even wash fiber that has been dyed with them in hot water, at 140°F, and they will retain their brightness.

For solid-color dyeing with the Lanasets, your results will be best if you use the recommended auxiliary chemicals, Albegal SET and sodium acetate, in addition to acetic acid, vinegar, or citric acid; PRO Chemical & Dye has a couple of reliable recipes available on their web site.

The Lanaset dye range lacks a clear magenta that is suitable for mixing colors, so dyers use another acid dye in combination with the Lanasets. The two most popular alternatives for this purpose are Polar Red (acid red 131) and WashFast Acid Magenta 338 (acid red 138).

Alpaca tends to produce lighter colors than wool does. This may be because the surface of the fiber scatters light more than other fibers. For deeper hues, you may need to use more time and/or a higher dye concentration than you would use on wool, or even to dye the same fiber more than once. There is less risk of felting when dyeing alpaca than when dyeing wool.

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Saturday, March 06, 2010

Are food dyes as good as other acid dyes?

Name: Rain

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Food Color
works very well to dye wool

Unsweetened drink mix powders
work well for dyeing wool.

Country: USA

Message: I started dyeing using food coloring because it was reasonably safe to have in the house with small kids. I got me a couple of small nosy ones. I have a friend who is also a professional fabric dyer, though, and we were having a debate of sorts. Her contention is that professional grade acid dyes will last longer than my food color based dyes, that they have a higher light- and color-fastness rating that will withstand more washings, etc. My contention is that food color evolved from the dye industry, that certain colors were rated as “safe” for use in food, but that those basic compounds, having originated in the dye industry, are still just as tough and long lasting. I cannot find the science to settle the argument as all my sources have done nothing to either confirm or deny it. Can you validate either position? Thanks in advance.

This is a good question, but I'm afraid your friend is right. Here's my explanation.

There are thousands of different acid dyes available. Some are better than others, in terms of washfastness or lightfastness. Only a very small number of acid dyes have passed safety tests for consumption as food; these are the food colorings. All of the synthetic food colorings are acid dyes; this is why food coloring performs so abysmally on cotton but works well on wool, like all acid dyes. Since so few of the acid dyes are safe to eat, you don't have a lot of choice as to what other properties a food dye may have, besides safety. You don't get to choose one that is particularly resistant to washing or light.

There are only seven artificial food colorings allowed for use in the US; all other colors, unless marked as being "natural coloring", consist of some mixture of these seven. These are what you find in any color of Wilton cake colors, food colorings, Kool-aid drink mix, and other forms of food dye. For more information about these dyes, see "Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers". For more information about their lightfastness ratings, see "Steaming Silk with Food Dyes".

For use in food, coloring does not have to be able to stay bright for years. Since food has a limited shelf-life, it's fine if the dye fades in brightness after only a few months, or in some cases after even just a few days in bright light. Washfastness is even less important for food dye than lightfastness. Foods that have been dyed don't have to withstand frequent laundering. Since the current selection of food dyes works well for food, there's no need for manufacturers to spend the money on expensive testing to find out whether other acid dyes, in particular dyes that are more washfast, are also safe to eat.

Dyeing wool and other protein fibers with food coloring is wonderful for use with children, and it's particularly handy when you want to use your good stainless steel cooking pots to dye in, without having to give up on using them for cooking food. The results of using food coloring as a textile dye for wool are surprisingly good. However, the food colorings we have available are not nearly as long-lasting and resistant to fading as the very best acid dyes. They cannot be washed in hot water, as most of the food dye will simply wash out when exposed to hot water.

In some cases, professional-grade acid dyes may not perform a lot better on textiles than food dyes. Not all of the professional acid dyes are particularly long lasting, even among the ones that are not safe to eat. Some, especially the fluorescent colors such as Rhodamine B or Flavine Yellow, fade rather quickly when exposed to light, as the energy that makes the dyes seem to 'pop' under ultraviolet light also makes the dye molecules fall apart quickly. Some of the WashFast Acid dyes, in spite of their name, are not all that washfast. However, many other dyes within the same line of dyes are much more long lasting, and definitely superior in permanency to food coloring.

The very best performing of the textile dyes readily available to hand dyers of wool in the US are the Lanaset dyes. (See "Lanaset Dyes: A Range of Reactive and Acid Dyes for Protein Fibers".) None of the Lanaset dyes are safe to eat, but they are extremely washfast and very reasonably lightfast. You can even wash fabric or yarn that has been dyed with Lanaset dyes in hot water, without causing the dyes to fade. That's something you can never do if you're using food coloring.

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Friday, March 05, 2010

Can you recommend the best type of fabric paint for my Air Brush?

Name: Hirman

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Country: Singapore

Message: Hi. Can you recommend me the best type of fabric paint that I can use in my Air Brush so I can spray my design onto the fabric? My only concern is that the paint would actually clog up my gun and thus spoil the gun. Hope you can advise me on this issue. Thank you.

I don't know what brands of paint are available to you in Singapore, but there are several brands that should work well. Any paint that combines the words "airbrush" and either "fabric" or "textile" in the name should be a good bet.

For example, there's a product called Medea Textile Colors that says, on the label, "For Airbrush & Paintbrush". That combination assures you that the paint is suitable for airbrushing fabric.

Jacquard Products, a reliable manufacturer of fabric paints and dyes, sells a product called Jacquard Airbrush Color, which works on fabric and leather as well on non-textile materials such as metal. They also recommend using their other paints, including the thin Dye-Na-Flow, for airbrushing; it can be used straight from the bottle, or after diluting it with 25% as much water. Their Lumiere fabric paint can be used for airbrushing after dilution by the same amount, yielding wonderful metallics and pearlescent colors.

Dr. Ph. Martin's Spectralite is a very thin paint for airbrushing fabric, recommended by Dharma Trading Company for air-brushing even very lightweight and thin materials, like silk. Unlike the others I've mentioned, it requires that you add a heat-set catalyst or room-temperature catalyst just before use. This line of airbrushing fabric paints includes some opaque colors that will show up even if applied to dark-colored fabric; most airbrush fabric paints are transparent, so they work well only on white or very pale fabric background colors.

Another brand that is supposed to be a good fabric paint for airbrushing is Air Tex Textile Airbrush Paint, from Badger.

It also works well to airbrush with a suitable fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye or Remazol dye. These dyes can be dissolved in water, filtered to remove any undissolved particles, then airbrushed onto 100% cotton, rayon, or silk fabric that has been pre-treated with soda ash, and then, after airbrushing, kept moist overnight in a warm place to allow the dyes to react with the fabric, or, alternatively, fixed without soda ash, after the dye is dry, by painting on a sodium silicate solution. These dyes work extremely well on untreated cotton, silk, rayon, or other natural fibers. (See "About Fiber Reactive Dyes", and use the recipe for direct application of Procion MX dye.)

I hope that you are taking precautions to avoid the possibility of breathing the spray from your airbrushing paint. Both dyes and paints can have harmful long-term effects on the lungs if they are inhaled, even if the paint is labeled 'non-toxic'. I recommend a combination of a spraying booth, to keep mist from escaping into the room, with a suitable dust mask or respirator.

If you have difficulty finding a local source in Singapore for any of these options, you may consider ordering them from a supplier in the US, such as Dharma Trading Company. If you try this, you can expect the shipping to cost as much again as the product itself. I don't know if there will be any import fees, in addition, as this varies by the country.

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Thursday, March 04, 2010

What are the Pantone print colors for Jacquard Acid dyes?

Name: JULIET

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Washfast Acid dyes

Washfast Acid dyes
Excellent for use on all animal fibers such as wool, silk, and mohair; also excellent for use on nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!

Country: South Africa

Message: What are the Pantone print colors for Jacquard Acid dyes, apart from the primaries you mention? Especially Pantone "Purple" and Rhodamine".

Since each dye can be applied at dozens of widely different depths of shade, from intensely brilliant to very pale, it's impossible to map a jar of dye to a single Pantone® print color. In addition, each different fiber will give a different color for a particular dye, depending on whether you are dyeing silk, wool, mohair, nylon, or any of the other fibers that can dyed with acid dyes. The colors will vary from slightly to moderately for the unmixed single-hue dyes, from one fiber to another, but will vary dramatically for the premixed dye colors.

It is possible to give rough Pantone® equivalents for a few specific dye recipes, though results will vary according to the application method and the fiber that is dyed, but I don't know of anyone who's done this for the Jacquard Acid Dyes. Perhaps the Jacquard Products people could help you. They have an online forum where you could ask this question.

The dye retail company PRO Chemical and Dye has made some dye recipe recommendations for a very limited number of Pantone® colors, from recent fashion forecasts. They give suggestions for both their Procion MX dyes and their WashFast Acid Dyes, for the Pantone's fashion color forecast for Spring 2010 and Pantone's fashion color forecast for Fall 2009. [PDF]

You might be able to get a good color match for Pantone's 'Rhodamine' by using a rhodamine-containing dye, though of course it's unpredictable what names Pantone® will arbitrarily apply to different colors. The source of their color name 'Rhodamine' is certainly a rhodamine dye, but whether their color matches it is another question. (Sometimes it seems that Pantone® selects color names more with the intent to confuse than to describe!) Rhodamine B is a fluorescent dye, Colour Index Acid Red 52, that is sold among the acid dyes of several dye suppliers. Jacquard Products sells it under the name 620 Hot Fuchsia, while ProChem sells it under the name 370 Rhodamine Red B.

For matching Pantone's "Purple", I can only recommend that you buy the dyes whose color chips seem to best match it, to your eye, and that you then try dyeing some test swatches of fabric or small bundles of yarn to see what concentration of which dye works best for you. Weigh out your dyes and fabric in grams, so that you will be able to scale up to larger quantities while keeping the number of grams of dye per 100 grams of fiber constant.

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Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Dyeing a polyester wedding dress

Name: Deborah

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country: United States

Message: Yes, praying that you can direct me in the path that I should go. I have a shell-100% polyester satin and lining-100% polyester taffeta wedding dress and I want this day to be special for me but I want this dress to be dyed lavender. Can you please help me? Thank you.

This is a frequently-asked question. See my page, "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

I strongly recommend against your dyeing your polyester wedding dress yourself. The dyeing process is cumbersome, requiring extensive boiling, in a cooking pot you plan to use only for dyeing; the cooking pot must be huge enough to allow the dress to move in it freely, which means that it will be very expensive. More importantly, the dress may be ruined by the dyeing process. Boiling is hard on an already-sewn garment, and nobody can dye a dress that is not washable.

Most custom dyers refuse to dye anything made of polyester, but there is one I know about that might. See my page, "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?", and scroll down to the information on Manhattan Dyeing Service.

For the very best results, you should get a new dress made of fabric that is already dyed the color you want your dress to be. For formal dresses, it is better to dye the fabric before assembling it into a garment. Try to find a local seamstress to do your sewing for you.

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Tuesday, March 02, 2010

How can I dye polyester fleece to match real suede?

Name: Rachel

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Jerry's Artarama is one of the few sources I know for Jacquard Airfix, which makes heat-setting unnecessary for fabric paint.

Region: California

Message: My question is: I have a pair of special boots. The toe box, sides, and heel areas are true suede. The upper part with zipper is polyester fleece. I spilled grease on one toe box a year ago. I finally after much trial and error removed it with a product for artist's oil paint brushes. BUT here's the kicker, I had been experimenting with covering it and now have brown lower boots instead of totally red. I tried to use the suede dye to cover the upper portion, but it did not work. I cannot put these in hot water. I was told Rit dye might work, but after speaking with a colleague who is a fiber artist she said to ask you or rather this website. I love these boots and they are only 1 year old and in excellent shape besides the color mess. What can I do to dye the upper portion dark brown and how should I do it? I so appreciate your site and will donate as I can. Thank you.

Rit all-purpose dye will not work on polyester. All-purpose dye contains a mixture of leveling acid dye, which works on wool, silk, or nylon, plus direct dye, which works on cotton and other plant fibers. Both of these types of dyes lack any affinity to polyester and will wash out when the fabric gets wet; if you don't rinse out the loose dye, it will rub off on anything that touches it, such as your clothing, carpets, or furniture.

The only kind of dye that works on polyester is disperse dye. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". Obviously, you will not be able to boil your boots in a pot of disperse dye for an hour; the glue holding the boots together will fail quickly under those circumstances. Disperse dye can also be used to make iron-on transfers, which work very well for drawings, but I doubt it will be possible to use this method to reach every bit of visible polyester.

This means that you cannot dye your boot-tops, but don't worry, the situation is not hopeless. Instead of using dye, you can use fabric paint. There are some fabric paints that work on polyester. Fabric paint consists of an insoluble pigment with a glue-like binder that holds the pigment on the material. Unlike house paints or artists' acrylic paints, fabric paints are designed to be soft after they dry.

The fabric paints will also work on real suede, as long as there is no longer any grease remaining to repel the paint. If you can't get a great color match, or if you accidentally spill some of the fabric paint on the suede, you might paint the suede as well as the polyester, to get the colors of the suede and polyester fleece closer to matching. Like dyes, fabric paints are generally transparent, so paint applied over brown suede will appear a slightly different color than the same fabric paint applied over red polyester. I think it might be better to protect the suede with tape and aluminum foil, or whatever seems easiest to cover the suede with, and avoid painting the suede, in case enough of the grease remains to repel the paint. You will need to figure out some way to hold the boot tops up while the fabric paint on them is drying.

You should test the fabric paint you buy on the inside of the boot first, choosing a spot where there's extra thickness to help keep the paint from bleeding through, in case you don't like the color. Note that not all fabric paints are recommended for use on polyester; some work only on natural fibers. Jacquard Products says that all of their fabric paints will work on polyester; their products include Dye-Na-Flow, a very thin fabric paint; its thinness helps it to mimic dye better than other fabric paints. That would be a good choice. Another thin fabric paint that works on polyester is Dharma Trading Company's Dharma Pigment Dyes. Fabric markers might also work pretty well. Jacquard Products' Tee Juice Markers include a large size that's more free-flowing than other fabric markers, so they might be suitable for coloring small areas of polyester fleece.

Check the label or manufacturers' instructions for whatever fabric paint you buy. Most require heat-setting, after they dry, to make the paints resist water, though in many cases the paint will become permanent after a month or two of drying. For heat setting fabric paint, you can buy a heat gun, which is like hair dryer with less air flow, available from crafts stores or Dharma Trading Company, or you can use a regular hair dryer, if you can consistantly get the fabric very hot with it. Alternatively, you can order a product called Jacquard Airfix from Jerry's Artarama; adding Jacquard Airfix to Jacquard Fabric paints, immediately before use, allows the paint to cure very effectively at room temperature, so that you can be certain that the paint will not dissolve in rainwater, with no need for heat-setting at all.

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