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Friday, April 30, 2010
My daughter's bridesmaid dresses finally arrived but are the wrong color
Region: Spokane, WA
Message: My daughter's bridesmaid dresses finally arrived but are the wrong color. They are chiffon. What are the chances they can be dyed to the right color? They are currently a pale lavender but should have been hot pink. The wedding is in August but there may not be time to have new dresses made. Can you help?
I'm sorry to say that I have no useful answer. This is an unfortunate situation. I strongly recommend against trying to dye already-sewn dresses for any formal occasion. It is possible to spend a lot of money and effort on buying the right dyes and a large-enough dyeing pot to dye the dresses, and yet then end up with ruined dresses. Unless they are both washable and made from an easily dyed fabric, you should either accept the color that your dresses are now, or replace the dresses with new ones.
I'm afraid that it is unwise to buy dresses sight-unseen without a guarantee of refund or replacement if they are not as described. Sometimes people make the mistake of ordering bridesmaids' dresses from overseas without any guarantee of satisfaction, but often the colors turn out to be quite different from the color specified.
There are several reasons why you can't dye these dresses. One is that they are probably not washable. You can never dye anything that is not washable! Dyeing necessarily requires a great deal of washing.
Another problem is that you do not seem to know the dresses' fiber content, which means that they are probably made of an undyeable fiber, such as polyester. (See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".) Chiffon is a weave, not a fiber. Chiffon can be woven from a natural fiber such as silk, but chiffon whose fiber content is not specified is very likely to be polyester, which is, unfortunately, inferior to real silk chiffon. Polyester can be dyed only by boiling it for some time with a special kind of dye called disperse dye; boiling your dresses may ruin them. You would also need to invest in a suitable dyeing pot which is large enough for the dresses to move in freely, and which you're not planning to reuse for food. It is much better to dye the fabric before the dresses are sewn, unless they are washable, pre-shrunk, and made of an easily dyeable fabric, such as real silk, viscose rayon, or cotton.
If the dresses were white, you could, perhaps, arrange to have them dyed, but there is no custom dyer anywhere, as far as I have been able to learn, who will dye polyester dresses that are not white. Very few custom dyers are willing to dye any polyester garment at all. If your dresses are made of a natural fiber, you can find contact information for a garment redyer on my page, "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?".
Good luck with finding a solution for your problem.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Is Blick disperse iDye sold in Australia?
Country: Australia
Message: Is Blick disperse iDye sold in Australia?
iDye Poly is a line of eight disperse dyes that are manufactured by Jacquard Products, in the US. Blick is one of their US retailers. Blick does sell by international mail-order, but you can also buy disperse dye locally in Australia.
Watch out that you don't inadvertently buy plain iDye, which is not iDye Poly; iDye is a direct dye which works only on natural fibers, including cotton and viscose rayon. iDye Poly contains disperse dye, which is used to dye most synthetic fibers, including polyester, acetate, nylon, and acrylic (but not viscose rayon). iDye and iDye Poly can be mixed together for dyeing poly/cotton blends.
The Thread Studio, in Perth, sells Jacquard iDye Poly by mail order. They also sell Transprint liquid disperse dyes, packaged for use in transfer printing onto polyester and other synthetic fibers, as well as Crayola Fabric Crayons and Sulky Transfer Pens, which are other forms of disperse dye for iron-on transfer onto polyester.
Batik Oetoro, in Gateshead, NSW, sells Polysol disperse dye by mail-order. Their range of disperse dyes contains more different colors that the Jacquard iDye Poly line, which includes only eight. Here's a link to their instructions.
Kraftkolour, in Whittlesea, Victoria, sells fifteen different colors of disperse dye powder concentrates by mail-order which can be used for immersion dyeing or transfer printing, along with a polyester dye carrier, Polydyol, which is used in immersion dyeing for more intense colors. The bulk packaging gives you more versatility than the instant-dissolving packets of iDye Poly.
Contact information for each of these dye sellers is listed, arranged by continent, on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Is there any way to confirm that there are no heavy metals in at least the Procion MX series of dyes?
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
substitutes for alum as a mordant for baby clothes
Buy from
Paradise Fibers
Buy from
Paradise Fibers
Country: USA
Message: I am tie-dyeing infant clothes w/ alum & cream of tartar as a mordant(using dyestuff that consists of natural food products: i.e. organic tea, organic beets, turmeric, etc.). Recently I read that alum is unsafe, especially b/c babies have a tendency to chew and gnaw on their clothes - have you any suggestions as to what would be the best mordant subsitute esp. b/c I wish to continue naturally dyeing? Might citric acid and washing soda be better?
Thank you for taking time to read my message as I look forward to hearing from you!
The only good answer for you, if you want to use natural dyes, without alum or other mordants, to dye clothing for infants in bright colors that last through the laundry, is to dye with natural indigo. It's a challenging dye to work with, much more difficult to use than a synthetic fiber reactive dye, but it is truly an excellent dye, and, unlike other natural dyes, does not require a mordant. Some particles of indigo will eventually work their way out of the fiber into the baby's mouth, unlike properly applied fiber reactive dyes, but indigo, in the form of FD&C blue #2, has been tested for safety when used as a food coloring, so this is less of a problem than your alum, which is irritating and not good for a baby to chew on.
Although alum is traditionally used to make pickles extra crisp, it has never been approved by the FDA for this purpose, and the FDA recommends that alum never be used in any food product. It is highly misleading when people who sell hand-dyed baby clothes refer to "food grade" alum, implying that it is safer than it really is. The fatal dose of alum for an adult is one ounce, or 30 grams. The fatal dose for a 15-pound infant might be one tenth that amount, or 3 grams; of course, the amount that will irritate the skin or digestive tract is considerably smaller than the fatal dose. However, alum is by far the safest of the effective mordants used for dyeing with natural dyes. Tannic acid can be used as a mordant, but the best way to mordant cotton for natural dyes is to treat it first with alum, then with tannic acid, and finally with alum again. Tannic acid alone is not nearly as effective, as a mordant, as tannic acid plus alum. Other good mordants, including copper, iron, tin, and chromium, are poisonous and therefore entirely unsuitable for use in dyeing baby clothes.
Synthetic fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion and Remazol dyes, are very safe dyes to use on cotton baby clothes, because of the way that they bond permanently to the fiber, so that they cannot come off in the baby's mouth. They are much easier for the novice tie-dyer to use than natural dyes, and they stay bright for years longer. There is no need for mordants with fiber reactive dyes, because they react directly with the fiber itself, in the presence of washing soda.
Neither citric acid nor washing soda are mordants. See "What's the difference between mordants and other chemical assistants used in dyeing?". Citric acid's only purpose, in dyeing, is to lower the pH of the dyebath, increasing its acidity, which is of no use in dyeing cotton. Washing soda's only purpose is to increase the pH of the dyebath, which is great for synthetic fiber reactive dyes, but useless for other classes of dyes. If you use citric acid and washing soda together, they will cancel each other out, resulting in a neutral pH, so they'll do nothing at all. Cream of tartar is not a mordant, either; it's just an acid, and, as with citric acid, its only purpose is to reduce the pH, which does not cause any dye to bond to cotton.
Beets are not a dye. Beets are the most useless plants to use as a dye, because their beautiful red color has no affinity for textile fibers. The most you can get from it, after laundering the clothes you dye with it, is a dull tan color, and that only on wool, not on cotton. Forget about using beets as a dye. See "Beets as a natural dye".
A much better natural red dye is cochineal, made from the bodies of a type of cactus-eating insect. Cochineal will not work on cotton without a real mordant, though. See "Cochineal is a fine dye".
Tea is all right as a temporary light brown dye. It will gradually wash out, so it's not very suitable for anything that must be washed frequently, such as baby clothes. Turmeric is a nice yellow dye, even without a mordant, but fades rapidly in the light. The energy that comes from visible light causes turmeric to fade. Anything dyed with turmeric should be dried indoors only, stored in a dark place when not in use, and redyed every year or so. See "How can I improve the light fastness of turmeric dye?".
There is no effective mordant that is as safe for baby clothes as synthetic fiber reactive dyes, which do not need a mordant. Fiber reactive dyes form a permanent bond to the fiber, unlike any mordant or natural dye, so if all excess unattached dye has been properly washed out, there is no way for the reactive dye to contaminate the baby's mouth, even if the baby chews on clothing dyed with it. In contrast, all mordants will, to at least a tiny extent, leach out of fabric into a baby's digestive system, if the baby chews on fabric that has been dyed with a mordant. If you want to use a good dye for cotton or bamboo baby clothes, the safest choice is fiber reactive dye. Indigo is the only long-lasting bright-colored natural dye that works well on cotton without a mordant.
Indigo does not require a mordant, because its chemistry is very different from other dyes. You must use harsh chemicals, lye and reducing agents, to dissolve the dye so that it can penetrate inside the fiber. Unlike mordants, the auxiliary chemicals are entirely removed by the time dyeing is complete, however, so they do not provide any danger at all to the wearer of the clothing.
Most indigo is synthetic. You can buy a very nice kit for dyeing clothes with synthetic indigo. Natural indigo is chemically identical to synthetic indigo, and is used in exactly the same way, using the same chemicals to dissolve and apply it. You will probably want to get a good book on dyeing with indigo. It will take you some trial and error to get good at dyeing with indigo. You must not attempt to dye anything dark with indigo in one dip, because using too much indigo will result in dye that rubs off of the fabric onto everything it touches. Instead, to get a bright indigo, dip the same piece into the indigo dye bath repeatedly. Do a lot of practice dyeing to make sure that you are able to get the indigo to work right, without rubbing off when it's dry, before you try producing indigo baby clothes. Indigo is not the easiest dye to use, but it is the only dye that meets all of your requirements.
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Monday, April 26, 2010
How can an asthmatic safely neutralize the bleach in Ajax cleanser?
Saturday, April 24, 2010
I don't have enough Synthrapol to send home with everyone to wash out afterwards
Thursday, April 22, 2010
coloring just a few pink cotton threads brown
Country: Australia
Message: I purchased a bag recently that has pink cotton thread sewn into the bag and I'm wanting to dry the thread brown. How would I go about doing this? I thought maybe using fabric markers? Or just painting the thread with dye?
Fabric markers or fabric paint would be the best choice.
Don't use an immersion dye, such as Rit or Tintex all-purpose dyes, the sort you're supposed to simmer the fabric in, in hot water. Painting that sort of dye on will produce bad results, because the dye will spread.
It could work well to thicken a good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, with sodium alginate, add soda ash directly to the dye, and paint it on, but I don't recommend this if you're not already using these good dyes. For a beginner, working on a small project like yours, fabric paint would be easier than dye, and fabric markers easier still.
Permanent markers that are not marketed for use on fabrics are not as good for this as fabric markers, though they will work for a time. Even a "permanent" marker like a Sharpy pen will tend to wear off, requiring you to repeat your efforts. Fabric markers are the best. I've had good experiences with Marvy, Uchida, Fabricmate, Identipen, and Tee Juice markers. In fact, I've never had a bad experience with fabric markers, except for the time I tried to color 100% polyester stitching with a Marvy marker, which works better on cotton. You can usually find good fabric markers at your local crafts store, in both wide-tip and fine-point versions. If you need a wider choice of brands or colors, you can mail-order from a dye supplier. In the US, Dharma Trading Company is a good source, while in Australia you can order fabric markers from the Thread Studio or Kraftkolour. (See Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.)
It's extremely important to check the fine print on the packaging for your fabric markers. Some brands need to be heat-set after drying, usually by ironing, while others don't require it (though it would do no harm). If the manufacturer of your marker recommend heat-setting, don't skip over this step, as it makes a big difference in water resistance.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Is Fibrec dye from the 70's still good?
Friday, April 16, 2010
I need to turn a dark hunter green fake crushed velvet to white for a wedding dress
Thursday, April 08, 2010
I am trying to find out about the chemistry of the "Alter Ego" dyes which dye silk & rayon differently in the same dye bath
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
a science project on the effects of Rit dye on various fabrics
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
I have a premade prom dress that I would very much like to dye!
Country: United States of America
Message: I have a premade prom dress that I would very much like to dye! I want to add a simple sun burst or an edge of color that fades...I have tested both and know how to do so on the type of fabric (100 % polyestor), but the fabric is unwashable, and the dye just washes out...I would be very happy if I could just dye the bottom corner of my dress without worrying about the color rubbing off on seats of other girls' dresses throughout the night. Is there a way I can semi-protect the dye to make it last through just one night? I had general ideas such as hairspray, ect, but was wondering if you knew of a better, more effective, less sticky idea? Thanks so much, love the site!!
If the dye is washing out, then you are using the wrong type of dye! You CANNOT dye polyester with all-purpose dye, such as Rit. There is no dye that works on cotton or other natural fibers that will also work on polyester. Polyester requires its own special type of dye.
As you must know, you can't dye anything that can't be washed, but it sounds as though you are carefully washing out the bottom edge of your dress, at any rate, so that should work out fine.
I strongly recommend against the use of hair spray or any other spray-on as a fixative, but I have two much better alternatives to suggest.
The first alternative is to use a very good fabric paint instead of a dye. (See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".) You'll need to get a very thin fabric paint for this to work. Don't use a thicker fabric paint, such as "puffy" paint or "slick" paint, and absolutely do not even try artists' acrylic paints or any other non-fabric paint, since the results will be stiff and scratchy. You need a very thin, soft fabric paint, in order to retain the smoothness and softness of your dress.
The two fabric paints I most recommend for this purpose are Dye-Na-Flow, which is made by Jacquard Products, and Dharma Pigment Dyes, which are made by Dharma Trading Company and sold only by mail-order (unless you are near their store in San Rafael, California). You may be able to find Dye-Na-Flow in your local crafts store or sewing store (try calling different stores first to ask whether they carry "Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint") but, if not, you can buy it by mail-order, either from an art supplier such as Blick Art Materials, or from a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company.
Both of these specific fabric paints are recommended by their manufacturers for use on both natural and synthetic fibers, including polyester. The advantage of a very thin fabric paint is that it can be heat-set with an iron, and it requires only a little rinsing. Its results will be vastly better than those of trying to use Rit dye to dye polyester, or of trying to use even the right kind of polyester dye in water that is cooler than boiling hot. You can feel the residue of these fabric paints on the fabric, but only slightly, and only if you are paying very close attention. This is completely unlike other sorts of paint, which will markedly change the feel of the fabric.
The second alternative I have for you is to use heat-transfer dyes. These dyes can be used only on synthetic fibers, such as polyester. They are extremely easy to use: you draw or paint your design onto paper, where it will look rather dull in color. If you use the paint form of transfer dyes, you let it dry, but if you use the crayons, you're ready to go as soon as the drawing is completed. You can create a drawing or painting on paper that contains the gradual fading in of color that you want, and then see the results on your fabric. Using a hot iron (and first protecting your ironing board with layers of newspaper or scrap fabric), turn the paper face-down onto the part of your dress you want this part of the design to appear. Press firmly with the hot iron, and the dye will sublimate from the heat, forming a dye vapor that immediately deposits on and inside the fibers in the polyester fabric. That's it, except for rinsing to remove excess loose dye. You can even recolor your paper, and iron it on elsewhere on the dress, for a repeating pattern.
Obviously the transfer-dye method is unsuitable for dyeing anything a single solid color, but it can produce wonderful effects. The colors become much brighter when they are ironed onto the polyester. There is absolutely no alteration in the softness and the feel of the fabric, after you've ironed on the transfer dyes. For an example, look at a little test I did, on the page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".
The easiest-to-find transfer dyes are in the form of fabric crayons, which you can buy at a sewing store and some crafts stores. They look exactly like ordinary wax crayons, but their contents are completely different (don't let them get mixed up with any ordinary crayons you may happen to have around). The results do look like crayon drawings on the fabric, which can be a very nice effect. For a different effect, you can mix water with disperse dye powder to create a transfer paint; a good source for the transfer paint powder is by mail-order from PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts. The painted effect is a little more sophisticated-looking than the crayon effect. The ironing-on step is exactly the same.
Either of these two methods, good fabric paint, or iron-on transfer dyes, will give you nice effects, without requiring much more rinsing of the colored area than you're already doing. Whether you use the fabric paint or the transfer dye, I strongly recommend you pick up a yard or so of inexpensive fabric from the fabric store to practice on first, a polyester fabric that is similar in feel and in color to your dress's material.
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Monday, April 05, 2010
What is the difference between soda ash and washing soda?
Country or region: Washington, USA
Message: What is the difference between soda ash and washing soda? This is for pre-soaking before dyeing. Thank you.
There's an explanation on my page, "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?", in the FAQ section of my website.
Washing soda and soda ash are both sodium carbonate. Both will work fine as a high-pH presoak for tie-dyeing, to activate the fiber molecules so that they attack the dye molecule, forming a strong chemical bond. This works only for Procion MX or other fiber reactive dyes, such as Drimarene K or Remazol dyes.
Soda ash is the 99% or 100% sodium carbonate that is sold at the hardware store to use for increasing the pH of your swimming pool; look for a product with a name like "pH Up" or "pH Increaser", then check the fine print on the label to ascertain that it really is sodium carbonate.
Washing soda contains a lot more water than soda ash does, although it too is a dry white powder. At one time it also contained additives such as salt, perfumes, and whiteners, which must be avoided when you are dyeing. However, Arm & Hammer brand washing soda now contains nothing but washing soda, so it's fine for use in dyeing. You can often find it in the grocery store with other laundry additives. It's also a main ingredient in most laundry powders, though of course you cannot use those for presoaking your fabric for tie-dyeing.
The general rule with washing soda is to use three times as much as you would of pure soda ash, since the extra water molecules in the washing soda powder make it both heavier and bulkier, but this is not very important, because, as a somewhat weak base, sodium carbonate will produce an appropriate pH even if you use half as much sodium carbonate as the recipe recommends, or twice as much.
Note that neither soda ash nor washing soda will work to fix other classes of dyes. There is no point to using soda ash or washing soda with all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex dye, for example, because it does not do anything to fix the dye to the fabric. Instead, if you use all-purpose dye, it is important to buy a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, and use it as an after-treatment to improve washfastness.
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Saturday, April 03, 2010
I need to dye my poly/cotton scrubs to a Solid Black by Monday
Country or region: Franklin County
Message: I need to dye my scrubs to a Solid Black. I just got a new job and the dress code is black. I have gray, pink, and blue scrubs. Can you please help me? Today is Friday and I neede them by Monday. I don't have any money for a few weeks. The scrubs are the 65% Polyester and the cotton blend. PLEASE HELP ME!!
You've got a problem. I'm not sure that you'll be able to buy the polyester dye locally. Get on the phone right now and call every crafts store in your area, and the Joann's fabric stores, too, and some art supply stores if that doesn't work, and ask them specifically if they have the "iDye Poly in black". Do not let them sell you only plain "iDye", which is a cotton dye; you must have "iDye Poly".
There is no other brand of dye in any local store that will work on the 65% polyester in your scrubs. Do not try to dye your scrubs with Rit all-purpose dye, because it will not work at all on the polyester. It will just wash out of the polyester. Without a polyester dye, the darkest black you will be able to buy will turn your scrubs no more than a light-to-medium gray, one that is only 35% the intensity of black, which won't help you a bit.
There are other sources for polyester dye, but they all involve mail-order; some will do overnight expedited shipping, but not on the weekend. I don't know whether you live in Franklin County, Ohio, or Franklin County, Virginia, or Franklin County, Washington, or Franklin County, Georgia, but none of the specialty stores I know for dyes for hand dyeing are located in any of those places, anyway. There is a large dye company near Franklin County, North Carolina, but I don't think they'd be open on the weekend. You should try calling and asking them, if you're in that area. If you live in North Carolina, contact Standard Dyes at 1-800-859-1240 or Classic Dyestuffs at 336-841-2346 and ask whether they can sell you any "black disperse dye". Disperse dye is the only kind of dye that works on polyester, and it is what is found in iDye Poly and other brands of dye for polyester. Both Standard and Classic will sell you a quantity of no less than one pound of dye for each dye color, but their prices are generally pretty good. They can also sell you dye for the cotton portion of your fiber blend, in a separate jar.
The best mail-order sources in the US for small quantities of disperse dye are PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts, and Aljo Dye, in New York. Their phone numbers and web sites are given on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". You can also buy "iDye Poly" from a number of different arts and crafts suppliers, including Blick Art Materials and Dharma Trading Company. Express shipping is available, certainly from Dharma and probably from the others as well, so that you could obtain your dyes Tuesday if you order on Monday morning. It's unfortunate you weren't able to get started on buying the dye on Thursday or before, so that you could use mail-ordered dye to do your dyeing this weekend.
You will have to dye both the polyester fibers and the cotton fibers in your scrubs to get a true dark black, although they require entirely different types of dye. If you buy both iDye, which is a direct dye that works on cotton, to dye the cotton in the blend, and iDye Poly, which is a disperse dye, to dye the polyester, you can dye both at once in the same five-gallon cooking pot. (The pot should be made of enamel or stainless steel; look for a large enameled canning pot, as large as you can find.) You cannot dye polyester at room temperature; for good black results, you must cook the dye into the polyester, at or near boiling. If you attempt to dye polyester black in the washing machine, I predict you will get a disappointing gray, at best.
iDye is not my favorite dye for cotton, but it's convenient to be able to add it to the same dyebath as the iDye Poly for polyester. iDye is better than Rit dye for cotton, but not by a lot. I can tell you about what the best black dyes for cotton are, but at this point I've probably given you as much information as you can use at the moment.
Good luck in finding polyester dye — and congratulations on the new job!
Followup:
Thank you for getting back to me so fast. I did call Joann and they have two and are placing it on hold. Thanks so much!
That's great!
You'll need to buy both the iDye Poly, for polyester, and the regular iDye, for the cotton part of the fiber blend. When in doubt, use more dye than the package says, when you're trying to get a deep dark black. Don't use the washing machine method for dark colors on polyester.
If they don't have any of the regular iDye for cotton, you can substitute Rit all-purpose dye, just for the cotton, or you can wash the scrubs once after using the polyester dye and then repeat the dyeing with Tulip One Step Fashion dye or Dylon Permanent dye, both of which last much longer on cotton.
It would be a good idea to use a dye fixative after you are done with the dyeing, such as Retayne or iDye Fixative. While you're at Joann's, ask if they have any. The old wives' tale that vinegar or salt will set the dye is untrue, but the commercial dye fixatives really work.
If you don't use Retayne or another commercial dye fixative, be careful to launder the black scrubs separately in cool water. The iDye for cotton, like Rit all-purpose dye, tends to bleed in the laundry, and it bleeds much worse in hot water than in cold water.
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Friday, April 02, 2010
How can I dye a cotton/nylon men's suit?
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Is Superwash wool okay for people who are allergic to wool?
at Paradise Fibers
Washfast Acid dyes
Excellent for use on wool and nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!
Country or region: Massachusetts/USA
Message: I am allergic to lanolin and wool. I assume it's the lanolin IN the wool that causes the problem. A spinner recently asked me if I was also allergic to superwash wool since the lanolin is removed. I am doing some skin patch tests of my own with some of her roving. Do you think Superwash is a good option, or is it all trial and error? Have you heard from anyone else with this problem?
There's more than one problem involved in wool sensitivity. Some people who are allergic to wool are allergic to lanolin, while others have a problem with the wool fiber itself. In many cases, the latter is not a true allergy, merely a reaction to the scratchiness of the wool, but there's no reason why a true allergy to the wool fiber could not exist. It's certainly possible that small fragments of wool fiber could provoke an immune response, with or without lanolin.
I don't know whether Superwash wool is 100% free of lanolin, but the extensive chemical treatment involved in its manufacture, and all the associated washing, makes it seem very likely. Doing your own skin test with low-lanolin wool is a good idea. There's no other way to find out whether or not you can tolerate that wool. Just don't be too slow to remove the test sample if you have a bad reaction! It makes sense in this case to try it for yourself; if you go to an allergist, they will base their advice on skin tests, which are just a more refined form of trial and error. If you do go to an allergist, you may wish to take some samples of yarn with you.
My mother, Jan Burch, is badly allergic to lanolin, and has never tried the Superwash wool. She can tell very quickly if she touches wool with any lanolin in it, because she gets a burning sensation in her skin almost immediately, but some allergies can take a day or two to become obvious. She suggests that you try yarns made from cashmere or alpaca, as neither provokes an allergic response in her, since the animals they come from are quite different from sheep. However, you must always be careful to check each batch of yarn. On one occasion, she was working with some angora yarn; angora, being made from rabbits, is free of lanolin. However, it turned out that there was some wool in the fiber blend. Wool is frequently included in blends with other fibers because of the usefulness of its crimp.
I would be very interested in knowing whether you, with your allergy to lanolin, are able to tolerate Superwash wool. I'm sorry that I can't tell you in advance how likely this is to be true.
Followup:
Thank you so much for your kind reply. I wanted to let you know that I am successfully knitting a pair of socks from superwash wool.
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My daughter's bridesmaid dresses finally arrived but are the wrong color
Name: Virginia
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Region: Spokane, WA
Message: My daughter's bridesmaid dresses finally arrived but are the wrong color. They are chiffon. What are the chances they can be dyed to the right color? They are currently a pale lavender but should have been hot pink. The wedding is in August but there may not be time to have new dresses made. Can you help?
I'm sorry to say that I have no useful answer. This is an unfortunate situation. I strongly recommend against trying to dye already-sewn dresses for any formal occasion. It is possible to spend a lot of money and effort on buying the right dyes and a large-enough dyeing pot to dye the dresses, and yet then end up with ruined dresses. Unless they are both washable and made from an easily dyed fabric, you should either accept the color that your dresses are now, or replace the dresses with new ones.
I'm afraid that it is unwise to buy dresses sight-unseen without a guarantee of refund or replacement if they are not as described. Sometimes people make the mistake of ordering bridesmaids' dresses from overseas without any guarantee of satisfaction, but often the colors turn out to be quite different from the color specified.
There are several reasons why you can't dye these dresses. One is that they are probably not washable. You can never dye anything that is not washable! Dyeing necessarily requires a great deal of washing.
Another problem is that you do not seem to know the dresses' fiber content, which means that they are probably made of an undyeable fiber, such as polyester. (See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".) Chiffon is a weave, not a fiber. Chiffon can be woven from a natural fiber such as silk, but chiffon whose fiber content is not specified is very likely to be polyester, which is, unfortunately, inferior to real silk chiffon. Polyester can be dyed only by boiling it for some time with a special kind of dye called disperse dye; boiling your dresses may ruin them. You would also need to invest in a suitable dyeing pot which is large enough for the dresses to move in freely, and which you're not planning to reuse for food. It is much better to dye the fabric before the dresses are sewn, unless they are washable, pre-shrunk, and made of an easily dyeable fabric, such as real silk, viscose rayon, or cotton.
If the dresses were white, you could, perhaps, arrange to have them dyed, but there is no custom dyer anywhere, as far as I have been able to learn, who will dye polyester dresses that are not white. Very few custom dyers are willing to dye any polyester garment at all. If your dresses are made of a natural fiber, you can find contact information for a garment redyer on my page, "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?".
Good luck with finding a solution for your problem.
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Thursday, April 29, 2010
Is Blick disperse iDye sold in Australia?
Name: Rosalba
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Country: Australia
Message: Is Blick disperse iDye sold in Australia?
iDye Poly is a line of eight disperse dyes that are manufactured by Jacquard Products, in the US. Blick is one of their US retailers. Blick does sell by international mail-order, but you can also buy disperse dye locally in Australia.
Watch out that you don't inadvertently buy plain iDye, which is not iDye Poly; iDye is a direct dye which works only on natural fibers, including cotton and viscose rayon. iDye Poly contains disperse dye, which is used to dye most synthetic fibers, including polyester, acetate, nylon, and acrylic (but not viscose rayon). iDye and iDye Poly can be mixed together for dyeing poly/cotton blends.
The Thread Studio, in Perth, sells Jacquard iDye Poly by mail order. They also sell Transprint liquid disperse dyes, packaged for use in transfer printing onto polyester and other synthetic fibers, as well as Crayola Fabric Crayons and Sulky Transfer Pens, which are other forms of disperse dye for iron-on transfer onto polyester.
Batik Oetoro, in Gateshead, NSW, sells Polysol disperse dye by mail-order. Their range of disperse dyes contains more different colors that the Jacquard iDye Poly line, which includes only eight. Here's a link to their instructions.
Kraftkolour, in Whittlesea, Victoria, sells fifteen different colors of disperse dye powder concentrates by mail-order which can be used for immersion dyeing or transfer printing, along with a polyester dye carrier, Polydyol, which is used in immersion dyeing for more intense colors. The bulk packaging gives you more versatility than the instant-dissolving packets of iDye Poly.
Contact information for each of these dye sellers is listed, arranged by continent, on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".
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Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Is there any way to confirm that there are no heavy metals in at least the Procion MX series of dyes?
Name:
Penelope
The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide: Third Edition,
by Monona Rossol
Country or region: Colorado, USA
Message: Hi,
I've used fiber reactive dyes intermittently for many years. Lately, I've begun to worry that the pigment might contain heavy metals. I've looked at the section showing molecular structures and formulae, and see that for the most part, they are complex configurations of common elements, many of them the building blocks of life C H O P K I N S Ca Fe Mg Na Cl........ Is there any way to confirm my conclusion that there are no heavy metals in at least the Procion MX series of dyes?
Heavy metals are specified in MSDS (Material Data Safety Sheet) information for any type of dye. MSDS pages may be requested from any dye supplier, and are often available online; while the MSDS cannot specify the exact dye contents of any pre-mixed dye color, since the recipes used to mix the colors are trade secrets, you can obtain an MSDS for each of the individual unmixed Procion MX dyes used in the mixtures.
Procion MX dyes do not contain any heavy metals, except for the copper ions contained in Procion Turquoise MX-G (Colour Index reactive blue 140) and Procion Rubine MX-B (Colour Index reactive red 6), which only contain between 1% and 5% copper by weight. (Procion Turquoise MX-G contains 60 to 65% copper phthalocyanine, a large molecular structure of which only a small portion is the copper ion itself.) While it is not safe to drink Procion MX dyes, or any other textile dye other than food coloring, there is no danger of heavy metal poisoning from any appropriate use of Procion MX dyes. In fact, the only real danger of heavy metal poisoning from any hand dyeing of textiles occurs from the use of certain heavy metal mordants that are sometimes used with natural dyes or in industrial dyeing of wool. I recommend against any use of the mordant potassium dichromate, for this and other reasons.
Heavy metals are not the only health concern involving dyes. Some dyes that are based on the chemicals benzidine, o-dianisidine, or toluidine are carcinogenic, and can be quite hazardous for workers who use them carelessly. Fortunately, none of these dangerous chemicals are used in manufacturing any of the Procion MX dyes, or in fact any other fiber reactive dye. They have been used in manufacturing a large number of direct dyes, and some acid dyes; these dyes are listed by their generic Colour Index names in Monona Rossol's book, The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide: Third Edition. Many of these benzidine-, o-dianisidine-, or toluidine-based direct dyes were included in all-purpose dyes up through the 1970s, but they are now much harder to find in consumer products in the US. However, since none of the fiber reactive dyes are manufactured using benzidine, o-dianisidine, or toluidine, this is not a concern for users of Procion MX dyes.
See also the following:
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide: Third Edition,
by Monona Rossol
Country or region: Colorado, USA
Message: Hi,
I've used fiber reactive dyes intermittently for many years. Lately, I've begun to worry that the pigment might contain heavy metals. I've looked at the section showing molecular structures and formulae, and see that for the most part, they are complex configurations of common elements, many of them the building blocks of life C H O P K I N S Ca Fe Mg Na Cl........ Is there any way to confirm my conclusion that there are no heavy metals in at least the Procion MX series of dyes?
Heavy metals are specified in MSDS (Material Data Safety Sheet) information for any type of dye. MSDS pages may be requested from any dye supplier, and are often available online; while the MSDS cannot specify the exact dye contents of any pre-mixed dye color, since the recipes used to mix the colors are trade secrets, you can obtain an MSDS for each of the individual unmixed Procion MX dyes used in the mixtures.
Procion MX dyes do not contain any heavy metals, except for the copper ions contained in Procion Turquoise MX-G (Colour Index reactive blue 140) and Procion Rubine MX-B (Colour Index reactive red 6), which only contain between 1% and 5% copper by weight. (Procion Turquoise MX-G contains 60 to 65% copper phthalocyanine, a large molecular structure of which only a small portion is the copper ion itself.) While it is not safe to drink Procion MX dyes, or any other textile dye other than food coloring, there is no danger of heavy metal poisoning from any appropriate use of Procion MX dyes. In fact, the only real danger of heavy metal poisoning from any hand dyeing of textiles occurs from the use of certain heavy metal mordants that are sometimes used with natural dyes or in industrial dyeing of wool. I recommend against any use of the mordant potassium dichromate, for this and other reasons.
Heavy metals are not the only health concern involving dyes. Some dyes that are based on the chemicals benzidine, o-dianisidine, or toluidine are carcinogenic, and can be quite hazardous for workers who use them carelessly. Fortunately, none of these dangerous chemicals are used in manufacturing any of the Procion MX dyes, or in fact any other fiber reactive dye. They have been used in manufacturing a large number of direct dyes, and some acid dyes; these dyes are listed by their generic Colour Index names in Monona Rossol's book, The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide: Third Edition. Many of these benzidine-, o-dianisidine-, or toluidine-based direct dyes were included in all-purpose dyes up through the 1970s, but they are now much harder to find in consumer products in the US. However, since none of the fiber reactive dyes are manufactured using benzidine, o-dianisidine, or toluidine, this is not a concern for users of Procion MX dyes.
See also the following:
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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
substitutes for alum as a mordant for baby clothes
Name: Serena
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing
by Vivien Prideaux
Instant Indigo
Instant indigo is indigo processed by a new method from India. The indigo has been pre-reduced and then freeze--dried into a crystal. It is easy to use and gives deep, wonderful colors.
Buy from
Paradise Fibers
Earthues Natural Dye Indigo, Finely ground
Earthues is a fair-trade, woman-owned business, working in partnership with artisans to fulfill their dreams and ours. We also provide expertise in color, textile design and artisan craft development for the global marketplace.
Buy from
Paradise Fibers
Country: USA
Message: I am tie-dyeing infant clothes w/ alum & cream of tartar as a mordant(using dyestuff that consists of natural food products: i.e. organic tea, organic beets, turmeric, etc.). Recently I read that alum is unsafe, especially b/c babies have a tendency to chew and gnaw on their clothes - have you any suggestions as to what would be the best mordant subsitute esp. b/c I wish to continue naturally dyeing? Might citric acid and washing soda be better?
Thank you for taking time to read my message as I look forward to hearing from you!
The only good answer for you, if you want to use natural dyes, without alum or other mordants, to dye clothing for infants in bright colors that last through the laundry, is to dye with natural indigo. It's a challenging dye to work with, much more difficult to use than a synthetic fiber reactive dye, but it is truly an excellent dye, and, unlike other natural dyes, does not require a mordant. Some particles of indigo will eventually work their way out of the fiber into the baby's mouth, unlike properly applied fiber reactive dyes, but indigo, in the form of FD&C blue #2, has been tested for safety when used as a food coloring, so this is less of a problem than your alum, which is irritating and not good for a baby to chew on.
Although alum is traditionally used to make pickles extra crisp, it has never been approved by the FDA for this purpose, and the FDA recommends that alum never be used in any food product. It is highly misleading when people who sell hand-dyed baby clothes refer to "food grade" alum, implying that it is safer than it really is. The fatal dose of alum for an adult is one ounce, or 30 grams. The fatal dose for a 15-pound infant might be one tenth that amount, or 3 grams; of course, the amount that will irritate the skin or digestive tract is considerably smaller than the fatal dose. However, alum is by far the safest of the effective mordants used for dyeing with natural dyes. Tannic acid can be used as a mordant, but the best way to mordant cotton for natural dyes is to treat it first with alum, then with tannic acid, and finally with alum again. Tannic acid alone is not nearly as effective, as a mordant, as tannic acid plus alum. Other good mordants, including copper, iron, tin, and chromium, are poisonous and therefore entirely unsuitable for use in dyeing baby clothes.
Synthetic fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion and Remazol dyes, are very safe dyes to use on cotton baby clothes, because of the way that they bond permanently to the fiber, so that they cannot come off in the baby's mouth. They are much easier for the novice tie-dyer to use than natural dyes, and they stay bright for years longer. There is no need for mordants with fiber reactive dyes, because they react directly with the fiber itself, in the presence of washing soda.
Neither citric acid nor washing soda are mordants. See "What's the difference between mordants and other chemical assistants used in dyeing?". Citric acid's only purpose, in dyeing, is to lower the pH of the dyebath, increasing its acidity, which is of no use in dyeing cotton. Washing soda's only purpose is to increase the pH of the dyebath, which is great for synthetic fiber reactive dyes, but useless for other classes of dyes. If you use citric acid and washing soda together, they will cancel each other out, resulting in a neutral pH, so they'll do nothing at all. Cream of tartar is not a mordant, either; it's just an acid, and, as with citric acid, its only purpose is to reduce the pH, which does not cause any dye to bond to cotton.
Beets are not a dye. Beets are the most useless plants to use as a dye, because their beautiful red color has no affinity for textile fibers. The most you can get from it, after laundering the clothes you dye with it, is a dull tan color, and that only on wool, not on cotton. Forget about using beets as a dye. See "Beets as a natural dye".
A much better natural red dye is cochineal, made from the bodies of a type of cactus-eating insect. Cochineal will not work on cotton without a real mordant, though. See "Cochineal is a fine dye".
Tea is all right as a temporary light brown dye. It will gradually wash out, so it's not very suitable for anything that must be washed frequently, such as baby clothes. Turmeric is a nice yellow dye, even without a mordant, but fades rapidly in the light. The energy that comes from visible light causes turmeric to fade. Anything dyed with turmeric should be dried indoors only, stored in a dark place when not in use, and redyed every year or so. See "How can I improve the light fastness of turmeric dye?".
There is no effective mordant that is as safe for baby clothes as synthetic fiber reactive dyes, which do not need a mordant. Fiber reactive dyes form a permanent bond to the fiber, unlike any mordant or natural dye, so if all excess unattached dye has been properly washed out, there is no way for the reactive dye to contaminate the baby's mouth, even if the baby chews on clothing dyed with it. In contrast, all mordants will, to at least a tiny extent, leach out of fabric into a baby's digestive system, if the baby chews on fabric that has been dyed with a mordant. If you want to use a good dye for cotton or bamboo baby clothes, the safest choice is fiber reactive dye. Indigo is the only long-lasting bright-colored natural dye that works well on cotton without a mordant.
Indigo does not require a mordant, because its chemistry is very different from other dyes. You must use harsh chemicals, lye and reducing agents, to dissolve the dye so that it can penetrate inside the fiber. Unlike mordants, the auxiliary chemicals are entirely removed by the time dyeing is complete, however, so they do not provide any danger at all to the wearer of the clothing.
Most indigo is synthetic. You can buy a very nice kit for dyeing clothes with synthetic indigo. Natural indigo is chemically identical to synthetic indigo, and is used in exactly the same way, using the same chemicals to dissolve and apply it. You will probably want to get a good book on dyeing with indigo. It will take you some trial and error to get good at dyeing with indigo. You must not attempt to dye anything dark with indigo in one dip, because using too much indigo will result in dye that rubs off of the fabric onto everything it touches. Instead, to get a bright indigo, dip the same piece into the indigo dye bath repeatedly. Do a lot of practice dyeing to make sure that you are able to get the indigo to work right, without rubbing off when it's dry, before you try producing indigo baby clothes. Indigo is not the easiest dye to use, but it is the only dye that meets all of your requirements.
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Monday, April 26, 2010
How can an asthmatic safely neutralize the bleach in Ajax cleanser?
Name:
Shannon
Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Country: USA
Message: HI there!! I found your site as I am asthmatic to bleach and am hunting for information online...I'm very badly asthmatic to it...my floors were scrubbed with ajax with bleach...tile floors...and I tried to neutralize them with vinegar and then followed up with lemon juice...I now see that your site says it creates a bad gas...do you think this also applies to scrubbing floors or just dyeing fabric...I am going to try your hydrogen peroxide...do you think it will help with tile floors? Thank you for any information you have to offer...I'm just desperate to get rid of this problem..thank you again so much : )
It looks as if you don't need to worry about this at all. Your situation is much less worrisome than if you had been combining liquid bleach with vinegar.
I looked up a couple of MSDS pages for Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach. (Note that Ajax Oxygen Bleach Powder Cleanser is an entirely different product, which does not contain any chlorine-based products and thus does not require any neutralization of chlorine.) Interestingly, trichlorocyanuric acid, or TCCA, which is the bleach contained in this cleanser, is present at such a low concentration that it is not even mentioned in MSDS safety pages for the product. (See, for example Ohio State's MSDS, or the National Library of Medicine's Household Products Database entry.) Apparently, the bleach content is not considered significant enough to be a health concern. The ingredients of Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach are listed by the manufacturer as calcium carbonate (used primarily as a mild abrasive), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (a common detergent), and trichlorocyanuric acid as a bleach source, plus fragrance and dye. MSDSs are required to include all hazardous chemicals that are found in a product in quantities of 1% or greater, or 0.1% or greater in the case of carcinogens.
The reason why I don't recommend putting an acid on top of hypochlorite (which is the active ingredient in liquid household bleach) is that it results in the formation of hypochlorous acid, and can also, if the pH is low enough, produce dangerous chlorine gas. Chlorine gas is a major hazard with a strong acid, such as acid-based toilet cleaners, or the phosphoric acid cleaners used by some janitorial services; chlorine gas is known to be capable of killing or causing permanent lung damage, but is less likely to be produced in significant quantities when used with a mild acid such as vinegar. However, even a mild acid reacts with hypochlorite bleach to produce hypochlorous acid. Hypochlorous acid is highly damaging to textiles, so it makes no sense to ever use even a mild acid, such as vinegar, to neutralize hypochlorite bleach on fabric.
For neutralizing significant quantities of hypochlorite bleach, using hydrogen peroxide, or, for those who are not sensitive to sulfites, using Anti-Chlor (sodium metabisulfite) or Bleach Stop (sodium thiosulfate), are both safer for the user, and kinder to the textile fibers on which bleach is being neutralized. (See "How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach?".) Flooring is probably less sensitive to the damaging effects of hypochlorous acid than textile fibers are, but the surfaces of some flooring materials could be susceptible.
As an asthmatic, you need to be particularly careful to avoid the production of chlorine gas (from mixing liquid household bleach with a strong acid, or with a large amount of a weak acid). You must also, of course, avoid applying anything containing ammonia on top of bleach, because the chloramine gas produced is extremely dangerous, even to people who have previously had no lung problems at all. A third concern for many asthmatics is sensitivity to sulfites, including Anti-Chlor and Bleach Stop. This is why hydrogen peroxide is the safest choice for an asthmatic to use to neutralize hypochlorite-containing bleach.
In any case, there appears to be no reason to worry about your situation. The concentration of TCCA in Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach is very low, and I am not sure whether even strong concentrations of TCCA are capable of producing dangerous gases when mixed with acid; however, even if it were able to produce dangerous gases when mixed with vinegar, the gas would have formed quickly and then dissipated, given adequate ventilation, so there can be no remaining hazard for you.
Just last week, someone in my household used diluted liquid hypochlorite bleach on ceramic tile as a mold-remover, and then applied vinegar to the shower where he'd used the bleach. I could not approve of his choice, and yet I must admit that the smell of chlorine was, in fact, much reduced. The residual odor was much less irritating to my lungs. Fortunately, I was not present when the vinegar was applied to the bleached surfaces, and tile is not damaged as easily by hypochlorous acid as fabrics or yarns are.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Country: USA
Message: HI there!! I found your site as I am asthmatic to bleach and am hunting for information online...I'm very badly asthmatic to it...my floors were scrubbed with ajax with bleach...tile floors...and I tried to neutralize them with vinegar and then followed up with lemon juice...I now see that your site says it creates a bad gas...do you think this also applies to scrubbing floors or just dyeing fabric...I am going to try your hydrogen peroxide...do you think it will help with tile floors? Thank you for any information you have to offer...I'm just desperate to get rid of this problem..thank you again so much : )
It looks as if you don't need to worry about this at all. Your situation is much less worrisome than if you had been combining liquid bleach with vinegar.
I looked up a couple of MSDS pages for Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach. (Note that Ajax Oxygen Bleach Powder Cleanser is an entirely different product, which does not contain any chlorine-based products and thus does not require any neutralization of chlorine.) Interestingly, trichlorocyanuric acid, or TCCA, which is the bleach contained in this cleanser, is present at such a low concentration that it is not even mentioned in MSDS safety pages for the product. (See, for example Ohio State's MSDS, or the National Library of Medicine's Household Products Database entry.) Apparently, the bleach content is not considered significant enough to be a health concern. The ingredients of Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach are listed by the manufacturer as calcium carbonate (used primarily as a mild abrasive), sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (a common detergent), and trichlorocyanuric acid as a bleach source, plus fragrance and dye. MSDSs are required to include all hazardous chemicals that are found in a product in quantities of 1% or greater, or 0.1% or greater in the case of carcinogens.
The reason why I don't recommend putting an acid on top of hypochlorite (which is the active ingredient in liquid household bleach) is that it results in the formation of hypochlorous acid, and can also, if the pH is low enough, produce dangerous chlorine gas. Chlorine gas is a major hazard with a strong acid, such as acid-based toilet cleaners, or the phosphoric acid cleaners used by some janitorial services; chlorine gas is known to be capable of killing or causing permanent lung damage, but is less likely to be produced in significant quantities when used with a mild acid such as vinegar. However, even a mild acid reacts with hypochlorite bleach to produce hypochlorous acid. Hypochlorous acid is highly damaging to textiles, so it makes no sense to ever use even a mild acid, such as vinegar, to neutralize hypochlorite bleach on fabric.
For neutralizing significant quantities of hypochlorite bleach, using hydrogen peroxide, or, for those who are not sensitive to sulfites, using Anti-Chlor (sodium metabisulfite) or Bleach Stop (sodium thiosulfate), are both safer for the user, and kinder to the textile fibers on which bleach is being neutralized. (See "How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach?".) Flooring is probably less sensitive to the damaging effects of hypochlorous acid than textile fibers are, but the surfaces of some flooring materials could be susceptible.
As an asthmatic, you need to be particularly careful to avoid the production of chlorine gas (from mixing liquid household bleach with a strong acid, or with a large amount of a weak acid). You must also, of course, avoid applying anything containing ammonia on top of bleach, because the chloramine gas produced is extremely dangerous, even to people who have previously had no lung problems at all. A third concern for many asthmatics is sensitivity to sulfites, including Anti-Chlor and Bleach Stop. This is why hydrogen peroxide is the safest choice for an asthmatic to use to neutralize hypochlorite-containing bleach.
In any case, there appears to be no reason to worry about your situation. The concentration of TCCA in Ajax Powder Cleanser with Bleach is very low, and I am not sure whether even strong concentrations of TCCA are capable of producing dangerous gases when mixed with acid; however, even if it were able to produce dangerous gases when mixed with vinegar, the gas would have formed quickly and then dissipated, given adequate ventilation, so there can be no remaining hazard for you.
Just last week, someone in my household used diluted liquid hypochlorite bleach on ceramic tile as a mold-remover, and then applied vinegar to the shower where he'd used the bleach. I could not approve of his choice, and yet I must admit that the smell of chlorine was, in fact, much reduced. The residual odor was much less irritating to my lungs. Fortunately, I was not present when the vinegar was applied to the bleached surfaces, and tile is not damaged as easily by hypochlorous acid as fabrics or yarns are.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Saturday, April 24, 2010
I don't have enough Synthrapol to send home with everyone to wash out afterwards
Name:
Robyn
Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Location: US
I'm having a tie dye party Sunday for my 9yo son, who is a tie-dye fanatic. We've never tie dyed at home before! I bought kits from Dharma and was planning to send the kids shirts home in ziploc baggies with rinsing/washing instructions, but... I realized at the last minute that I don't have enough Synthrapol (acutally Dharma's replacement) to send home with everyone to wash their own clothes.
Dharma's rinsing/washing instructions say:
I saw on your website that you do everything in the washer. But what instructions should I give to families who will be washing one or two projects at home without the special detergent? Can they wash with regular soap? Some folks on the internet seem to recommend the plain blue Dawn Dishwasher soap, which I can certainly get to send home with kids. Have you ever tried that? Would you use it with or instead of regular laundry soap? What do you think would work!
Hi Robin!
To be honest, I don't think it matters all that much what detergent people use. What does matter, at least in some cases, is to do the first rinsing in cool water without regular detergent, but it's fine to do it with no detergent at all. The other thing that matters is to use really hot water for washing after that, to remove the unattached excess dye.
Some people say that Synthrapol has a magical ability to keep unwanted dye particles in suspension, but I have become less and less convinced of this. The only really good way to prevent unwanted transfer of color from one part of a shirt to another is to give the dye plenty of time to react in a warm place, so that no unreacted dye is still present and ready to transfer when you start the washing process. Overnight at 70°F or above is ideal. Cooler temperatures slow the reaction.
The first rinsing is intended to remove auxiliary dyeing chemicals, such as soda ash and any salt (there is often some salt in the dye itself). It's best to use cool water for this, to avoid encouraging the unattached excess dye to become too firmly associated with the fabric, which makes washing more of a burden. It is optional to use Synthrapol for this step (or Dharma's replacement) in the initial rinse, but it's better to skip regular detergent altogether, in the first rinse, since it often contains soda ash. You don't have to have detergent in the first rinse.
The following washings should be in the hottest water available, with any detergent. (Professional dyers often use boiling water, with good fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dyes.) The hotter the water, the more efficient the removal of the excess dye. I would tell your party-goers to rinse thoroughly with cool water, then soak in the hottest water available for at least two thorough washings.
If I have more than one item to wash out, I just throw the totally unrinsed garments straight into the washer, just pausing to remove the ties with a blunt-ended pair of scissors, and do one washing on cold, then I turn off the cold water supply to my washer (since otherwise it adds cool water to the hot), set the machine to hot, and run it through twice, or three times if it's very important to get all the excess dye out. Setting the machine to soak the items in the very hot water helps in increasing efficiency.
By the way, if you do have some Synthrapol, it's worth noting that not very much is needed. People usually use far more than they need. The amount required for the soaping off of dyes is surprisingly small. You only need 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of Synthrapol per pound of fabric; an adult XL t-shirt weighs half a pound, typically, so each kid's shirt must be below a quarter of a pound.
Here's a link to my resource page all about Synthrapol. I could probably have skipped writing this whole thing and just sent you that page.
Have fun at the party! Dharma kits are great. I recommend ziplock freezer bags of any brand, for sending the shirts home, not sandwich or storage bags, because they are more trustworthy and less likely to fail than the non-freezer-weight bags.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
—ADVERTISEMENTS—
Tom Rolofson and Martine Purdy's
Advanced Tie Dye Techniques: Making Shapes and Mandalas
Location: US
I'm having a tie dye party Sunday for my 9yo son, who is a tie-dye fanatic. We've never tie dyed at home before! I bought kits from Dharma and was planning to send the kids shirts home in ziploc baggies with rinsing/washing instructions, but... I realized at the last minute that I don't have enough Synthrapol (acutally Dharma's replacement) to send home with everyone to wash their own clothes.
Dharma's rinsing/washing instructions say:
Remove from bag and while still tied, rinse off the excess dye under cold running water (faucet, hose or shower), then rinse in warmer water while you untie and after garments are untied, until water runs fairly clear. Have your washing machine pre-filled with hot water with Synthrapol or Professional Textile Detergent and throw in the clothing as soon as it is rinsed, running it through a full cycle.
I saw on your website that you do everything in the washer. But what instructions should I give to families who will be washing one or two projects at home without the special detergent? Can they wash with regular soap? Some folks on the internet seem to recommend the plain blue Dawn Dishwasher soap, which I can certainly get to send home with kids. Have you ever tried that? Would you use it with or instead of regular laundry soap? What do you think would work!
Hi Robin!
To be honest, I don't think it matters all that much what detergent people use. What does matter, at least in some cases, is to do the first rinsing in cool water without regular detergent, but it's fine to do it with no detergent at all. The other thing that matters is to use really hot water for washing after that, to remove the unattached excess dye.
Some people say that Synthrapol has a magical ability to keep unwanted dye particles in suspension, but I have become less and less convinced of this. The only really good way to prevent unwanted transfer of color from one part of a shirt to another is to give the dye plenty of time to react in a warm place, so that no unreacted dye is still present and ready to transfer when you start the washing process. Overnight at 70°F or above is ideal. Cooler temperatures slow the reaction.
The first rinsing is intended to remove auxiliary dyeing chemicals, such as soda ash and any salt (there is often some salt in the dye itself). It's best to use cool water for this, to avoid encouraging the unattached excess dye to become too firmly associated with the fabric, which makes washing more of a burden. It is optional to use Synthrapol for this step (or Dharma's replacement) in the initial rinse, but it's better to skip regular detergent altogether, in the first rinse, since it often contains soda ash. You don't have to have detergent in the first rinse.
The following washings should be in the hottest water available, with any detergent. (Professional dyers often use boiling water, with good fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dyes.) The hotter the water, the more efficient the removal of the excess dye. I would tell your party-goers to rinse thoroughly with cool water, then soak in the hottest water available for at least two thorough washings.
If I have more than one item to wash out, I just throw the totally unrinsed garments straight into the washer, just pausing to remove the ties with a blunt-ended pair of scissors, and do one washing on cold, then I turn off the cold water supply to my washer (since otherwise it adds cool water to the hot), set the machine to hot, and run it through twice, or three times if it's very important to get all the excess dye out. Setting the machine to soak the items in the very hot water helps in increasing efficiency.
By the way, if you do have some Synthrapol, it's worth noting that not very much is needed. People usually use far more than they need. The amount required for the soaping off of dyes is surprisingly small. You only need 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of Synthrapol per pound of fabric; an adult XL t-shirt weighs half a pound, typically, so each kid's shirt must be below a quarter of a pound.
Here's a link to my resource page all about Synthrapol. I could probably have skipped writing this whole thing and just sent you that page.
Have fun at the party! Dharma kits are great. I recommend ziplock freezer bags of any brand, for sending the shirts home, not sandwich or storage bags, because they are more trustworthy and less likely to fail than the non-freezer-weight bags.
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Thursday, April 22, 2010
coloring just a few pink cotton threads brown
Name: Elesha
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Country: Australia
Message: I purchased a bag recently that has pink cotton thread sewn into the bag and I'm wanting to dry the thread brown. How would I go about doing this? I thought maybe using fabric markers? Or just painting the thread with dye?
Fabric markers or fabric paint would be the best choice.
Don't use an immersion dye, such as Rit or Tintex all-purpose dyes, the sort you're supposed to simmer the fabric in, in hot water. Painting that sort of dye on will produce bad results, because the dye will spread.
It could work well to thicken a good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, with sodium alginate, add soda ash directly to the dye, and paint it on, but I don't recommend this if you're not already using these good dyes. For a beginner, working on a small project like yours, fabric paint would be easier than dye, and fabric markers easier still.
Permanent markers that are not marketed for use on fabrics are not as good for this as fabric markers, though they will work for a time. Even a "permanent" marker like a Sharpy pen will tend to wear off, requiring you to repeat your efforts. Fabric markers are the best. I've had good experiences with Marvy, Uchida, Fabricmate, Identipen, and Tee Juice markers. In fact, I've never had a bad experience with fabric markers, except for the time I tried to color 100% polyester stitching with a Marvy marker, which works better on cotton. You can usually find good fabric markers at your local crafts store, in both wide-tip and fine-point versions. If you need a wider choice of brands or colors, you can mail-order from a dye supplier. In the US, Dharma Trading Company is a good source, while in Australia you can order fabric markers from the Thread Studio or Kraftkolour. (See Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World.)
It's extremely important to check the fine print on the packaging for your fabric markers. Some brands need to be heat-set after drying, usually by ironing, while others don't require it (though it would do no harm). If the manufacturer of your marker recommend heat-setting, don't skip over this step, as it makes a big difference in water resistance.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Is Fibrec dye from the 70's still good?
I found a bunch of old fibrec coldwater dye in my classroom
and am wondering if dye from the 70's is still good.
Fibrec was one of the original brand names under which Procion MX dyes were first sold to hand dyers. (I have a copy of the 1970 booklet, Basic Techniques of Tie-and-Dye with Fibrec, by Evilsizer and Flynn.) Procion MX were the first fiber reactive dyes introduced for use on cotton.
The reactive group on Procion MX dyes often lasts only a couple of years after purchase, though sometimes they may stay good for as long as five or six years. Your Fibrec dyes will no longer work as fiber reactive dyes on cotton or other cellulose fibers.
However, they can still be used as acid dyes on protein fibers, such as silk and wool, if they are applied with a mild acid, such as vinegar, plus some heat. See my page, "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers", for more information about using Procion MX dyes as acid dyes.
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and am wondering if dye from the 70's is still good.
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Fibrec was one of the original brand names under which Procion MX dyes were first sold to hand dyers. (I have a copy of the 1970 booklet, Basic Techniques of Tie-and-Dye with Fibrec, by Evilsizer and Flynn.) Procion MX were the first fiber reactive dyes introduced for use on cotton.
The reactive group on Procion MX dyes often lasts only a couple of years after purchase, though sometimes they may stay good for as long as five or six years. Your Fibrec dyes will no longer work as fiber reactive dyes on cotton or other cellulose fibers.
However, they can still be used as acid dyes on protein fibers, such as silk and wool, if they are applied with a mild acid, such as vinegar, plus some heat. See my page, "Fiber reactive dyes on protein fibers", for more information about using Procion MX dyes as acid dyes.
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Friday, April 16, 2010
I need to turn a dark hunter green fake crushed velvet to white for a wedding dress
Name:
amber
Country: USA
Message: I need help desperately. I need to turn a dark hunter green fake crushed velvet into a white fake crushed velvet material so I can make a wedding dress. We got the material because it wes so cheap. I know I need to remove all color from it and fast. Please help! What do I do?
Don't try to do this. It will probably not work. In most cases, you cannot turn synthetic velvet from a dark green to a nice clean solid white.
Your fake crushed velvet is probably either polyester or acetate. It might be made of rayon. If it is made of a synthetic fiber such as polyester or acetate, then you must not use chlorine bleach on it. Bleach causes permanent damage to synthetic fibers. Bleach can be used on rayon, if you take sufficient care to avoid damaging the rayon while it is wet, but not on polyester or nylon.
There are color removing chemicals that can be used on synthetic fibers, but they all require that you heat the fabric with the color remover. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) Sometimes it works to use hot tap water, with the color remover, in a washing machine, but often the hotter temperatures of the stovetop are required. It will be impossible for you to find a large enough cooking pot for you to use the stove-top method for removing color from a large amount of fabric yardage, especially since the pot must not be made of aluminum. The pot has to be large enough for the fabric to move freely in the dye removal bath. A suitable five-gallon stainless steel cooking pot will cost more than buying new fabric in the right color.
Even if you do everything right in using color removing chemicals on your dark hunter green fabric, chances are that it will never turn a really pretty white. It might remain the original color, with no change at all, since some dyes resist any method of color removal. It might change to a weird orangish brown or some other color; often, dyes do not turn completely white when treated with bleach or color removal chemicals. Color removal works better as a preparation for dyeing than for use as-is, since ghostly pale colors are so much more likely than a perfect white. There is a lot less chance that you will be able to obtain a good pure white or ivory color with no discoloration anywhere.
At this point, you have two choices: either 1, learn to love the dark hunter green you have, and use it that color; or 2, go out and buy some more fabric. Don't neglect the possibilities of resale or consignment shops, which often have nice wedding dresses.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope that you are able to find the material for the wedding dress that you want.
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Dye Removal ChemicalsCountry: USA
Message: I need help desperately. I need to turn a dark hunter green fake crushed velvet into a white fake crushed velvet material so I can make a wedding dress. We got the material because it wes so cheap. I know I need to remove all color from it and fast. Please help! What do I do?
Don't try to do this. It will probably not work. In most cases, you cannot turn synthetic velvet from a dark green to a nice clean solid white.
Your fake crushed velvet is probably either polyester or acetate. It might be made of rayon. If it is made of a synthetic fiber such as polyester or acetate, then you must not use chlorine bleach on it. Bleach causes permanent damage to synthetic fibers. Bleach can be used on rayon, if you take sufficient care to avoid damaging the rayon while it is wet, but not on polyester or nylon.
There are color removing chemicals that can be used on synthetic fibers, but they all require that you heat the fabric with the color remover. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) Sometimes it works to use hot tap water, with the color remover, in a washing machine, but often the hotter temperatures of the stovetop are required. It will be impossible for you to find a large enough cooking pot for you to use the stove-top method for removing color from a large amount of fabric yardage, especially since the pot must not be made of aluminum. The pot has to be large enough for the fabric to move freely in the dye removal bath. A suitable five-gallon stainless steel cooking pot will cost more than buying new fabric in the right color.
Even if you do everything right in using color removing chemicals on your dark hunter green fabric, chances are that it will never turn a really pretty white. It might remain the original color, with no change at all, since some dyes resist any method of color removal. It might change to a weird orangish brown or some other color; often, dyes do not turn completely white when treated with bleach or color removal chemicals. Color removal works better as a preparation for dyeing than for use as-is, since ghostly pale colors are so much more likely than a perfect white. There is a lot less chance that you will be able to obtain a good pure white or ivory color with no discoloration anywhere.
At this point, you have two choices: either 1, learn to love the dark hunter green you have, and use it that color; or 2, go out and buy some more fabric. Don't neglect the possibilities of resale or consignment shops, which often have nice wedding dresses.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. I hope that you are able to find the material for the wedding dress that you want.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Thursday, April 08, 2010
I am trying to find out about the chemistry of the "Alter Ego" dyes which dye silk & rayon differently in the same dye bath
Name:
Catherine
Message: I am trying to find out about the chemistry of the "Alter Ego" dyes which dye silk & rayon differently in the same dye bath (I got my kit through Dharma Trading). I am using this as a part of a Science of the Arts course I am teaching to high school students & would love to know more about the chemistry...
Alter Ego® dyes are apparently a mixture of direct dyes with acid dyes, plus auxiliary chemicals, probably including a reserving agent and a cationic dye fixative. Unfortunately, they are not among the simplest or most understandable examples of dye chemistry that one could choose for a chemistry class.
Direct dyes are typically large molecules that remain associated with textile fibers via fairly weak bonds, a combination of the relatively weak Van der Waals forces and some hydrogen bonding. Acid dyes bond to protein fibers by the formation of salt linkages between sulfonic or carboxylic groups in the dye and the side chains of certain of the amino acids in the protein fibers. See "What kinds of chemical bonds attach dyes to fibers?". To complicate matters, some acid dyes can act as direct dyes, and all direct dyes will color silk.
The interesting thing about the Alter Ego dyes is the way they prevent the direct dye in the mixture from dyeing the silk. As a general rule, all direct dyes work on cellulose fibers, such as rayon, and also on silk, which is a protein fiber. There is something called a reserving agent, as far as I can tell some sort of syntan (synthetic tannin), which is used in the Alter Ego system in order to inhibit the silk from taking up the direct dye. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea as to what chemical, specifically, the syntan may be, and the exact chemistry is not at all clear. There are many different chemicals that are described as syntans. Presumably the syntan in the Alter Ego system is included in their expensive proprietary dye fixative liquid.
The solution for the opposite problem, how they prevent the acid dyes from coloring the cellulose fiber, depends on the choice of acid dyes. Some acid dyes will stain cellulose fibers significantly; some dyes can even work as both acid dyes on protein fibers, and as direct dyes on cellulose fibers. There are other acid dyes that do not stain cellulose fibers much at all. The Alter Ego acid dyes must be drawn as much as possible from the latter group.
I must say that I prefer a chemically simpler example for dye demonstrations to introductory chemistry classes. Proprietary ingredients such as the Alter Ego fixative cannot be described in any detail, because we simply don't know exactly which chemicals are included in them. I can show you a drawing of the exact mechanism of the dye reaction between a fiber reactive dye, such as a Procion MX dye, and the textile fiber; I can't do that for a direct dye or an unidentified acid dye.
Interestingly, you can dye protein and cellulose fibers two different colors with the same mixture of Procion MX dyes, in many cases, because some of the Procion MX dyes react faster than others do with cellulose, while others do the opposite. For example, if you use a mixture of Colour Index reactive yellow 86 (also known as Procion yellow MX-8G, or Dharma's Procion Lemon Yellow) and Colour Index reactive blue 163 (also known as Procion reactive blue MX-G, or Dharma's Procion Cerulean blue), the color produced on cotton is an aqua color, while the color produced on silk is more of an emerald green.
For more information, see the following:
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Message: I am trying to find out about the chemistry of the "Alter Ego" dyes which dye silk & rayon differently in the same dye bath (I got my kit through Dharma Trading). I am using this as a part of a Science of the Arts course I am teaching to high school students & would love to know more about the chemistry...
Alter Ego® dyes are apparently a mixture of direct dyes with acid dyes, plus auxiliary chemicals, probably including a reserving agent and a cationic dye fixative. Unfortunately, they are not among the simplest or most understandable examples of dye chemistry that one could choose for a chemistry class.
Direct dyes are typically large molecules that remain associated with textile fibers via fairly weak bonds, a combination of the relatively weak Van der Waals forces and some hydrogen bonding. Acid dyes bond to protein fibers by the formation of salt linkages between sulfonic or carboxylic groups in the dye and the side chains of certain of the amino acids in the protein fibers. See "What kinds of chemical bonds attach dyes to fibers?". To complicate matters, some acid dyes can act as direct dyes, and all direct dyes will color silk.
The interesting thing about the Alter Ego dyes is the way they prevent the direct dye in the mixture from dyeing the silk. As a general rule, all direct dyes work on cellulose fibers, such as rayon, and also on silk, which is a protein fiber. There is something called a reserving agent, as far as I can tell some sort of syntan (synthetic tannin), which is used in the Alter Ego system in order to inhibit the silk from taking up the direct dye. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea as to what chemical, specifically, the syntan may be, and the exact chemistry is not at all clear. There are many different chemicals that are described as syntans. Presumably the syntan in the Alter Ego system is included in their expensive proprietary dye fixative liquid.
The solution for the opposite problem, how they prevent the acid dyes from coloring the cellulose fiber, depends on the choice of acid dyes. Some acid dyes will stain cellulose fibers significantly; some dyes can even work as both acid dyes on protein fibers, and as direct dyes on cellulose fibers. There are other acid dyes that do not stain cellulose fibers much at all. The Alter Ego acid dyes must be drawn as much as possible from the latter group.
I must say that I prefer a chemically simpler example for dye demonstrations to introductory chemistry classes. Proprietary ingredients such as the Alter Ego fixative cannot be described in any detail, because we simply don't know exactly which chemicals are included in them. I can show you a drawing of the exact mechanism of the dye reaction between a fiber reactive dye, such as a Procion MX dye, and the textile fiber; I can't do that for a direct dye or an unidentified acid dye.
Interestingly, you can dye protein and cellulose fibers two different colors with the same mixture of Procion MX dyes, in many cases, because some of the Procion MX dyes react faster than others do with cellulose, while others do the opposite. For example, if you use a mixture of Colour Index reactive yellow 86 (also known as Procion yellow MX-8G, or Dharma's Procion Lemon Yellow) and Colour Index reactive blue 163 (also known as Procion reactive blue MX-G, or Dharma's Procion Cerulean blue), the color produced on cotton is an aqua color, while the color produced on silk is more of an emerald green.
For more information, see the following:
- "Dyeing silk/rayon blends two different colors"
- "Alter Ego dyes"
- "Acid dyes for dyeing silk but not cotton"
- "Chemical Reaction for a Dichlorotriazine Dye With Cellulose"
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Wednesday, April 07, 2010
a science project on the effects of Rit dye on various fabrics
Name:
Renee
Country or region: Northwest USA
Message: Hi Paula,
My 11yo daughter is doing a science project on the effects of Rit dye on white 100% cotton, 100% polyester fleece and felt, 100% cotton denim, 100% nylon netting and, finally, 96% cotton/4%spandex fabrics. Do you have any rcommendations for her? Will a mixture of the dye and salt or dye and vinegar have and special effects? Do you know why the effects will scientifically be different or a website we could visit for these type of questions? The experiment is due April 30th. Thank you for anything you can help with!
Rit dye is a mixture called all-purpose dye, which contains both a cotton dye called direct dye, and a dye for wool and nylon that is called acid dye. It is a hot water dye, as both direct dyes and acid dyes require a considerable amount of heat in order to perform at their best. Please start by reading the following pages:
"All Purpose Dyes"
"About Direct Dyes", and
"Acid Dyes".
All-purpose dyes are not the highest quality type of dyes, because they tend to fade rather quickly, and they bleed badly in the laundry. However, since they contain more than one type of dye, they will color a wide range of fibers. They will work on cotton, including cotton denim and the cotton portion of cotton/spandex blends; they will also work on nylon, as long as it doesn't have any sort of coating that will repel the dye. They will not work on polyester, whether it is in the form of fleece or felt. It makes a nice project to compare the effects of a dye on both natural and synthetic fibers, since you can generally see a big difference. Nylon is a synthetic fiber, but it is an interesting exception for dyeing, because it chemically resembles the proteins found in wool, so it dyes like wool, instead of like polyester.
To learn more about what dyes work on different fibers, please read the following pages:
"FAQ: How to dye nylon or polyamide",
"How to Dye Cotton", and
"Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". (There is no disperse dye in Rit all-purpose dye, so polyester cannot be dyed permanently using all-purpose dye.)
The type of dye that works on nylon is called acid dye. It is included in the Rit all-purpose dye mixture. However, there is no acid included in the dye mixture. Dyeing nylon will work much better if you add some acid, along with the dye, to lower the pH. The most convenient acid to use in your kitchen is ordinary vinegar. A good quantity to use is 25 milliliters of ordinary white vinegar per liter of dyebath; this works out to one tablespoon plus two teaspoons of vinegar, in one quart of water, or one teaspoon of vinegar in three-quarters of a cup of water.
Salt is included in the Rit dye mixture. You have enough variables already, and it will be difficult to tell what effect the salt has. I recommend that you add more salt only if the dye package directs you to do so, and to use the same concentration of salt in each case.
A good way to dye several different types of fiber at once, without one fiber interfering with another fiber, is to use quart-sized canning jars. You can place a piece of fabric or yarn in each jar, add the dye after dissolving it in water, and add any other chemicals, as well. Then you can place the jars inside a large cooking pot with some water and boil them for half an hour or an hour. It's not a good idea to dye two different types of fiber in a single dyebath, because one fiber may take up the dye so quickly that their is none left for another fiber, which would give misleading results.
You should not use your good cooking pots to dye fabric. Textile dyes, such as Rit dye, are not approved for use on food preparation surfaces. There are a couple of other safety precautions you should follow. You should always wear a dust mask when working with dye powder, after you have opened the package of dye and before you have gotten it all dissolved in water; you can buy a dust mask at the hardware store. This is a good practice when working with any powder that might be irritating or allergenic. You should also always wear plastic, latex, or rubber gloves when working with household chemicals, including dye. You can buy these at the hardware store or the drug store.
If you do not heat the fabric with the dyes on the stovetop, they will not attach as firmly, but they will probably still attach well enough for the project to work. At least use the hottest tap water available, because heat is important in helping both direct dyes and acid dyes attach to their fibers. It would be interesting to do a project comparing cold water, hot water, and boiling, but this is too complicated to include in your current project; just make sure that all of the fabrics get the same temperature of water, so that they are comparable. I would like to recommend that you use the stovetop method, instead of just using hot tap water.
Washing out the excess dye from the fabric, after dyeing, is an important step. You may find that the polyester temporarily appears to have taken up the all-purpose dye. The color of the fabric before washing is meaningless, however. You can rinse the fabric by hand in the sink (wearing rubber gloves to protect against unattached dye, which will stain your hands, and to help protect against hot water), or you can put a number of swatches of fabric into a mesh lingerie bag and wash them in the washing machine.
There have been many other questions sent to me, asking about using dyes in science fair projects. You may find it useful to browse through my answers to them. They are a sub-category in my "All About Hand Dyeing Q&A" blog. Here is a direct link to the "Schoolwork" category of the blog. Some of the questions are similar in level to your daughter's project; just skip over any which are at too advanced a level. Your daughter can use any of these pages as references in the bibliography section at the end of her project. You will see that your letter is, today, the most recent entry in the blog.
Good luck to your daughter in working on her project.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
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Country or region: Northwest USA
Message: Hi Paula,
My 11yo daughter is doing a science project on the effects of Rit dye on white 100% cotton, 100% polyester fleece and felt, 100% cotton denim, 100% nylon netting and, finally, 96% cotton/4%spandex fabrics. Do you have any rcommendations for her? Will a mixture of the dye and salt or dye and vinegar have and special effects? Do you know why the effects will scientifically be different or a website we could visit for these type of questions? The experiment is due April 30th. Thank you for anything you can help with!
Rit dye is a mixture called all-purpose dye, which contains both a cotton dye called direct dye, and a dye for wool and nylon that is called acid dye. It is a hot water dye, as both direct dyes and acid dyes require a considerable amount of heat in order to perform at their best. Please start by reading the following pages:
"All Purpose Dyes"
"About Direct Dyes", and
"Acid Dyes".
All-purpose dyes are not the highest quality type of dyes, because they tend to fade rather quickly, and they bleed badly in the laundry. However, since they contain more than one type of dye, they will color a wide range of fibers. They will work on cotton, including cotton denim and the cotton portion of cotton/spandex blends; they will also work on nylon, as long as it doesn't have any sort of coating that will repel the dye. They will not work on polyester, whether it is in the form of fleece or felt. It makes a nice project to compare the effects of a dye on both natural and synthetic fibers, since you can generally see a big difference. Nylon is a synthetic fiber, but it is an interesting exception for dyeing, because it chemically resembles the proteins found in wool, so it dyes like wool, instead of like polyester.
To learn more about what dyes work on different fibers, please read the following pages:
"FAQ: How to dye nylon or polyamide",
"How to Dye Cotton", and
"Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". (There is no disperse dye in Rit all-purpose dye, so polyester cannot be dyed permanently using all-purpose dye.)
The type of dye that works on nylon is called acid dye. It is included in the Rit all-purpose dye mixture. However, there is no acid included in the dye mixture. Dyeing nylon will work much better if you add some acid, along with the dye, to lower the pH. The most convenient acid to use in your kitchen is ordinary vinegar. A good quantity to use is 25 milliliters of ordinary white vinegar per liter of dyebath; this works out to one tablespoon plus two teaspoons of vinegar, in one quart of water, or one teaspoon of vinegar in three-quarters of a cup of water.
Salt is included in the Rit dye mixture. You have enough variables already, and it will be difficult to tell what effect the salt has. I recommend that you add more salt only if the dye package directs you to do so, and to use the same concentration of salt in each case.
A good way to dye several different types of fiber at once, without one fiber interfering with another fiber, is to use quart-sized canning jars. You can place a piece of fabric or yarn in each jar, add the dye after dissolving it in water, and add any other chemicals, as well. Then you can place the jars inside a large cooking pot with some water and boil them for half an hour or an hour. It's not a good idea to dye two different types of fiber in a single dyebath, because one fiber may take up the dye so quickly that their is none left for another fiber, which would give misleading results.
You should not use your good cooking pots to dye fabric. Textile dyes, such as Rit dye, are not approved for use on food preparation surfaces. There are a couple of other safety precautions you should follow. You should always wear a dust mask when working with dye powder, after you have opened the package of dye and before you have gotten it all dissolved in water; you can buy a dust mask at the hardware store. This is a good practice when working with any powder that might be irritating or allergenic. You should also always wear plastic, latex, or rubber gloves when working with household chemicals, including dye. You can buy these at the hardware store or the drug store.
If you do not heat the fabric with the dyes on the stovetop, they will not attach as firmly, but they will probably still attach well enough for the project to work. At least use the hottest tap water available, because heat is important in helping both direct dyes and acid dyes attach to their fibers. It would be interesting to do a project comparing cold water, hot water, and boiling, but this is too complicated to include in your current project; just make sure that all of the fabrics get the same temperature of water, so that they are comparable. I would like to recommend that you use the stovetop method, instead of just using hot tap water.
Washing out the excess dye from the fabric, after dyeing, is an important step. You may find that the polyester temporarily appears to have taken up the all-purpose dye. The color of the fabric before washing is meaningless, however. You can rinse the fabric by hand in the sink (wearing rubber gloves to protect against unattached dye, which will stain your hands, and to help protect against hot water), or you can put a number of swatches of fabric into a mesh lingerie bag and wash them in the washing machine.
There have been many other questions sent to me, asking about using dyes in science fair projects. You may find it useful to browse through my answers to them. They are a sub-category in my "All About Hand Dyeing Q&A" blog. Here is a direct link to the "Schoolwork" category of the blog. Some of the questions are similar in level to your daughter's project; just skip over any which are at too advanced a level. Your daughter can use any of these pages as references in the bibliography section at the end of her project. You will see that your letter is, today, the most recent entry in the blog.
Good luck to your daughter in working on her project.
(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
I have a premade prom dress that I would very much like to dye!
Name: Chloe
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Country: United States of America
Message: I have a premade prom dress that I would very much like to dye! I want to add a simple sun burst or an edge of color that fades...I have tested both and know how to do so on the type of fabric (100 % polyestor), but the fabric is unwashable, and the dye just washes out...I would be very happy if I could just dye the bottom corner of my dress without worrying about the color rubbing off on seats of other girls' dresses throughout the night. Is there a way I can semi-protect the dye to make it last through just one night? I had general ideas such as hairspray, ect, but was wondering if you knew of a better, more effective, less sticky idea? Thanks so much, love the site!!
If the dye is washing out, then you are using the wrong type of dye! You CANNOT dye polyester with all-purpose dye, such as Rit. There is no dye that works on cotton or other natural fibers that will also work on polyester. Polyester requires its own special type of dye.
As you must know, you can't dye anything that can't be washed, but it sounds as though you are carefully washing out the bottom edge of your dress, at any rate, so that should work out fine.
I strongly recommend against the use of hair spray or any other spray-on as a fixative, but I have two much better alternatives to suggest.
The first alternative is to use a very good fabric paint instead of a dye. (See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers".) You'll need to get a very thin fabric paint for this to work. Don't use a thicker fabric paint, such as "puffy" paint or "slick" paint, and absolutely do not even try artists' acrylic paints or any other non-fabric paint, since the results will be stiff and scratchy. You need a very thin, soft fabric paint, in order to retain the smoothness and softness of your dress.
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The two fabric paints I most recommend for this purpose are Dye-Na-Flow, which is made by Jacquard Products, and Dharma Pigment Dyes, which are made by Dharma Trading Company and sold only by mail-order (unless you are near their store in San Rafael, California). You may be able to find Dye-Na-Flow in your local crafts store or sewing store (try calling different stores first to ask whether they carry "Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint") but, if not, you can buy it by mail-order, either from an art supplier such as Blick Art Materials, or from a dye supplier such as Dharma Trading Company.
Both of these specific fabric paints are recommended by their manufacturers for use on both natural and synthetic fibers, including polyester. The advantage of a very thin fabric paint is that it can be heat-set with an iron, and it requires only a little rinsing. Its results will be vastly better than those of trying to use Rit dye to dye polyester, or of trying to use even the right kind of polyester dye in water that is cooler than boiling hot. You can feel the residue of these fabric paints on the fabric, but only slightly, and only if you are paying very close attention. This is completely unlike other sorts of paint, which will markedly change the feel of the fabric.
The second alternative I have for you is to use heat-transfer dyes. These dyes can be used only on synthetic fibers, such as polyester. They are extremely easy to use: you draw or paint your design onto paper, where it will look rather dull in color. If you use the paint form of transfer dyes, you let it dry, but if you use the crayons, you're ready to go as soon as the drawing is completed. You can create a drawing or painting on paper that contains the gradual fading in of color that you want, and then see the results on your fabric. Using a hot iron (and first protecting your ironing board with layers of newspaper or scrap fabric), turn the paper face-down onto the part of your dress you want this part of the design to appear. Press firmly with the hot iron, and the dye will sublimate from the heat, forming a dye vapor that immediately deposits on and inside the fibers in the polyester fabric. That's it, except for rinsing to remove excess loose dye. You can even recolor your paper, and iron it on elsewhere on the dress, for a repeating pattern.
Obviously the transfer-dye method is unsuitable for dyeing anything a single solid color, but it can produce wonderful effects. The colors become much brighter when they are ironed onto the polyester. There is absolutely no alteration in the softness and the feel of the fabric, after you've ironed on the transfer dyes. For an example, look at a little test I did, on the page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".
The easiest-to-find transfer dyes are in the form of fabric crayons, which you can buy at a sewing store and some crafts stores. They look exactly like ordinary wax crayons, but their contents are completely different (don't let them get mixed up with any ordinary crayons you may happen to have around). The results do look like crayon drawings on the fabric, which can be a very nice effect. For a different effect, you can mix water with disperse dye powder to create a transfer paint; a good source for the transfer paint powder is by mail-order from PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts. The painted effect is a little more sophisticated-looking than the crayon effect. The ironing-on step is exactly the same.
Either of these two methods, good fabric paint, or iron-on transfer dyes, will give you nice effects, without requiring much more rinsing of the colored area than you're already doing. Whether you use the fabric paint or the transfer dye, I strongly recommend you pick up a yard or so of inexpensive fabric from the fabric store to practice on first, a polyester fabric that is similar in feel and in color to your dress's material.
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Monday, April 05, 2010
What is the difference between soda ash and washing soda?
Name: Sara
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Jacquard Soda Ash Dye Fixer
Country or region: Washington, USA
Message: What is the difference between soda ash and washing soda? This is for pre-soaking before dyeing. Thank you.
There's an explanation on my page, "What is soda ash, and what's it for in dyeing?", in the FAQ section of my website.
Washing soda and soda ash are both sodium carbonate. Both will work fine as a high-pH presoak for tie-dyeing, to activate the fiber molecules so that they attack the dye molecule, forming a strong chemical bond. This works only for Procion MX or other fiber reactive dyes, such as Drimarene K or Remazol dyes.
Soda ash is the 99% or 100% sodium carbonate that is sold at the hardware store to use for increasing the pH of your swimming pool; look for a product with a name like "pH Up" or "pH Increaser", then check the fine print on the label to ascertain that it really is sodium carbonate.
Washing soda contains a lot more water than soda ash does, although it too is a dry white powder. At one time it also contained additives such as salt, perfumes, and whiteners, which must be avoided when you are dyeing. However, Arm & Hammer brand washing soda now contains nothing but washing soda, so it's fine for use in dyeing. You can often find it in the grocery store with other laundry additives. It's also a main ingredient in most laundry powders, though of course you cannot use those for presoaking your fabric for tie-dyeing.
The general rule with washing soda is to use three times as much as you would of pure soda ash, since the extra water molecules in the washing soda powder make it both heavier and bulkier, but this is not very important, because, as a somewhat weak base, sodium carbonate will produce an appropriate pH even if you use half as much sodium carbonate as the recipe recommends, or twice as much.
Note that neither soda ash nor washing soda will work to fix other classes of dyes. There is no point to using soda ash or washing soda with all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex dye, for example, because it does not do anything to fix the dye to the fabric. Instead, if you use all-purpose dye, it is important to buy a cationic dye fixative, such as Retayne, and use it as an after-treatment to improve washfastness.
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Saturday, April 03, 2010
I need to dye my poly/cotton scrubs to a Solid Black by Monday
Name: Kristi
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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends
Country or region: Franklin County
Message: I need to dye my scrubs to a Solid Black. I just got a new job and the dress code is black. I have gray, pink, and blue scrubs. Can you please help me? Today is Friday and I neede them by Monday. I don't have any money for a few weeks. The scrubs are the 65% Polyester and the cotton blend. PLEASE HELP ME!!
You've got a problem. I'm not sure that you'll be able to buy the polyester dye locally. Get on the phone right now and call every crafts store in your area, and the Joann's fabric stores, too, and some art supply stores if that doesn't work, and ask them specifically if they have the "iDye Poly in black". Do not let them sell you only plain "iDye", which is a cotton dye; you must have "iDye Poly".
There is no other brand of dye in any local store that will work on the 65% polyester in your scrubs. Do not try to dye your scrubs with Rit all-purpose dye, because it will not work at all on the polyester. It will just wash out of the polyester. Without a polyester dye, the darkest black you will be able to buy will turn your scrubs no more than a light-to-medium gray, one that is only 35% the intensity of black, which won't help you a bit.
There are other sources for polyester dye, but they all involve mail-order; some will do overnight expedited shipping, but not on the weekend. I don't know whether you live in Franklin County, Ohio, or Franklin County, Virginia, or Franklin County, Washington, or Franklin County, Georgia, but none of the specialty stores I know for dyes for hand dyeing are located in any of those places, anyway. There is a large dye company near Franklin County, North Carolina, but I don't think they'd be open on the weekend. You should try calling and asking them, if you're in that area. If you live in North Carolina, contact Standard Dyes at 1-800-859-1240 or Classic Dyestuffs at 336-841-2346 and ask whether they can sell you any "black disperse dye". Disperse dye is the only kind of dye that works on polyester, and it is what is found in iDye Poly and other brands of dye for polyester. Both Standard and Classic will sell you a quantity of no less than one pound of dye for each dye color, but their prices are generally pretty good. They can also sell you dye for the cotton portion of your fiber blend, in a separate jar.
The best mail-order sources in the US for small quantities of disperse dye are PRO Chemical & Dye, in Massachusetts, and Aljo Dye, in New York. Their phone numbers and web sites are given on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". You can also buy "iDye Poly" from a number of different arts and crafts suppliers, including Blick Art Materials and Dharma Trading Company. Express shipping is available, certainly from Dharma and probably from the others as well, so that you could obtain your dyes Tuesday if you order on Monday morning. It's unfortunate you weren't able to get started on buying the dye on Thursday or before, so that you could use mail-ordered dye to do your dyeing this weekend.
You will have to dye both the polyester fibers and the cotton fibers in your scrubs to get a true dark black, although they require entirely different types of dye. If you buy both iDye, which is a direct dye that works on cotton, to dye the cotton in the blend, and iDye Poly, which is a disperse dye, to dye the polyester, you can dye both at once in the same five-gallon cooking pot. (The pot should be made of enamel or stainless steel; look for a large enameled canning pot, as large as you can find.) You cannot dye polyester at room temperature; for good black results, you must cook the dye into the polyester, at or near boiling. If you attempt to dye polyester black in the washing machine, I predict you will get a disappointing gray, at best.
iDye is not my favorite dye for cotton, but it's convenient to be able to add it to the same dyebath as the iDye Poly for polyester. iDye is better than Rit dye for cotton, but not by a lot. I can tell you about what the best black dyes for cotton are, but at this point I've probably given you as much information as you can use at the moment.
Good luck in finding polyester dye — and congratulations on the new job!
Followup:
Thank you for getting back to me so fast. I did call Joann and they have two and are placing it on hold. Thanks so much!
That's great!
You'll need to buy both the iDye Poly, for polyester, and the regular iDye, for the cotton part of the fiber blend. When in doubt, use more dye than the package says, when you're trying to get a deep dark black. Don't use the washing machine method for dark colors on polyester.
If they don't have any of the regular iDye for cotton, you can substitute Rit all-purpose dye, just for the cotton, or you can wash the scrubs once after using the polyester dye and then repeat the dyeing with Tulip One Step Fashion dye or Dylon Permanent dye, both of which last much longer on cotton.
It would be a good idea to use a dye fixative after you are done with the dyeing, such as Retayne or iDye Fixative. While you're at Joann's, ask if they have any. The old wives' tale that vinegar or salt will set the dye is untrue, but the commercial dye fixatives really work.
If you don't use Retayne or another commercial dye fixative, be careful to launder the black scrubs separately in cool water. The iDye for cotton, like Rit all-purpose dye, tends to bleed in the laundry, and it bleeds much worse in hot water than in cold water.
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Friday, April 02, 2010
How can I dye a cotton/nylon men's suit?
Name:
Anthony
Country: United States
Message: Hi, I have a men's suit (jacket and pants), off white in color. It is 50% cotton and 50% nylon. It's a pretty heavy fabric. After being stored for awhile, it has yellow spots on it. Dry cleaning did not get them out. I want to dye it a dark color, maybe dark navy. Can you tell me what my options are on what to use and or how to go about doing this?
Have you tried washing it with water and a mild detergent? Two reasons: 1, sometimes water will remove stains that dry-cleaning fails to remove; and 2, you must wash it before you can dye it. You cannot dye anything that is not washable. It is extremely important to thoroughly wash any garment before dyeing it, and dyeiung itself is at least as hard on clothing as washing is, since it requires immersion in water.
After you have washed your suit with water, you will have to assess how well it has survived. If the lining has shrunk more or less than the outer layer of the fabric, then the fit and shape of the suit will be ruined. At that point, the only thing you can do is discard the suit, or cut it up to use the fabric in another project.
If your suit survives washing, then you can consider the correct method for dyeing it. Dyeing a cotton/nylon blend is the perfect job for an all-purpose dye, since the direct dye in the blend will work on cotton, while the acid dye in the blend will work on nylon. See "About All Purpose Dyes". There are two drawbacks of all-purpose dyes. One is that they require hot water in order to work, ideally water brought to a simmer in a huge cooking pot, at 187°F or above. The other is that all-purpose dyes are not very washfast. You can compromise on the water temperature by using the hottest water available in your washing machine, to dye the suit (although this is even more likely to shrink and ruin the suit than simply washing it did), and you can solve the washfastness by using a cationic dye fixative afterwards, such as Retayne. See "Commercial Dye Fixatives". You will not be able to find the cationic dye fixative in most local stores; if you can't find it locally, you can mail-order it from Joann.com. Note that there is no home remedy that will work nearly as well as Retayne; neither salt nor vinegar will work in this way.
I must point out that I do not recommend the use of all-purpose dyes, except for special circumstances like this one in which the blend requires it. Cool-water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye, can be used with much less damage to clothing, because it can be applied in room-temperature water, and it lasts many times longer; however, it will work only on the cotton fibers in your suit's blend, and not on the nylon. All-purpose dyes are ideal for a cotton/nylon blend, in spite of their drawbacks.
Nylon will take the acid dye in the all-purpose blend best if you add a mild acid to the dyeing water. Vinegar is a good choice. In spite of what people who don't know about dye often say, vinegar is no use at all in fixing dye on cotton, but it is often necessary for best results on nylon. The manufacturers of Tintex® High Temp all-purpose dye, in Australia, recommend the use of 100 ml (2/5 cup) of white vinegar per 4 liters of water when dyeing wool, silk, or nylon. For a standard twenty-gallon top-loader washing machine load, this works out to two quarts of ordinary distilled white vinegar, 5% acidity, from the grocery store.
For dark colors, it is important to use enough dye. You must use one or two boxes of Rit brand all-purpose dye for every pound of fabric. While the packet indicates that one box will dye two pounds of fiber, this is true only if you are trying to obtain a pale color, such as light gray. Darker colors require more dye. Weigh your suit before you get started, while it is still dry. If your suit weighs five pounds, you will want to use ten boxes of black or navy all-purpose dye. After applying the dye in the washing machine, you will need to wash out the unattached excess dye. Use only cool water to wash anything that has been dyed with all-purpose dye, and wash it separately from other garments, because all-purpose dye tends to bleed badly in the laundry until after a cationic dye fixative such as Retayne has been applied.
If your suit cannot be washed at all, as is true for many lined garments, then you should ignore all of this information. Washing is in essential part of the dyeing process.
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Country: United States
Message: Hi, I have a men's suit (jacket and pants), off white in color. It is 50% cotton and 50% nylon. It's a pretty heavy fabric. After being stored for awhile, it has yellow spots on it. Dry cleaning did not get them out. I want to dye it a dark color, maybe dark navy. Can you tell me what my options are on what to use and or how to go about doing this?
Have you tried washing it with water and a mild detergent? Two reasons: 1, sometimes water will remove stains that dry-cleaning fails to remove; and 2, you must wash it before you can dye it. You cannot dye anything that is not washable. It is extremely important to thoroughly wash any garment before dyeing it, and dyeiung itself is at least as hard on clothing as washing is, since it requires immersion in water.
After you have washed your suit with water, you will have to assess how well it has survived. If the lining has shrunk more or less than the outer layer of the fabric, then the fit and shape of the suit will be ruined. At that point, the only thing you can do is discard the suit, or cut it up to use the fabric in another project.
If your suit survives washing, then you can consider the correct method for dyeing it. Dyeing a cotton/nylon blend is the perfect job for an all-purpose dye, since the direct dye in the blend will work on cotton, while the acid dye in the blend will work on nylon. See "About All Purpose Dyes". There are two drawbacks of all-purpose dyes. One is that they require hot water in order to work, ideally water brought to a simmer in a huge cooking pot, at 187°F or above. The other is that all-purpose dyes are not very washfast. You can compromise on the water temperature by using the hottest water available in your washing machine, to dye the suit (although this is even more likely to shrink and ruin the suit than simply washing it did), and you can solve the washfastness by using a cationic dye fixative afterwards, such as Retayne. See "Commercial Dye Fixatives". You will not be able to find the cationic dye fixative in most local stores; if you can't find it locally, you can mail-order it from Joann.com. Note that there is no home remedy that will work nearly as well as Retayne; neither salt nor vinegar will work in this way.
I must point out that I do not recommend the use of all-purpose dyes, except for special circumstances like this one in which the blend requires it. Cool-water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye, can be used with much less damage to clothing, because it can be applied in room-temperature water, and it lasts many times longer; however, it will work only on the cotton fibers in your suit's blend, and not on the nylon. All-purpose dyes are ideal for a cotton/nylon blend, in spite of their drawbacks.
Nylon will take the acid dye in the all-purpose blend best if you add a mild acid to the dyeing water. Vinegar is a good choice. In spite of what people who don't know about dye often say, vinegar is no use at all in fixing dye on cotton, but it is often necessary for best results on nylon. The manufacturers of Tintex® High Temp all-purpose dye, in Australia, recommend the use of 100 ml (2/5 cup) of white vinegar per 4 liters of water when dyeing wool, silk, or nylon. For a standard twenty-gallon top-loader washing machine load, this works out to two quarts of ordinary distilled white vinegar, 5% acidity, from the grocery store.
For dark colors, it is important to use enough dye. You must use one or two boxes of Rit brand all-purpose dye for every pound of fabric. While the packet indicates that one box will dye two pounds of fiber, this is true only if you are trying to obtain a pale color, such as light gray. Darker colors require more dye. Weigh your suit before you get started, while it is still dry. If your suit weighs five pounds, you will want to use ten boxes of black or navy all-purpose dye. After applying the dye in the washing machine, you will need to wash out the unattached excess dye. Use only cool water to wash anything that has been dyed with all-purpose dye, and wash it separately from other garments, because all-purpose dye tends to bleed badly in the laundry until after a cationic dye fixative such as Retayne has been applied.
If your suit cannot be washed at all, as is true for many lined garments, then you should ignore all of this information. Washing is in essential part of the dyeing process.
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Thursday, April 01, 2010
Is Superwash wool okay for people who are allergic to wool?
Name: Annette
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at Paradise Fibers
Washfast Acid dyes
Excellent for use on wool and nylon. One ounce of dye will dye six pounds of fiber!
Country or region: Massachusetts/USA
Message: I am allergic to lanolin and wool. I assume it's the lanolin IN the wool that causes the problem. A spinner recently asked me if I was also allergic to superwash wool since the lanolin is removed. I am doing some skin patch tests of my own with some of her roving. Do you think Superwash is a good option, or is it all trial and error? Have you heard from anyone else with this problem?
There's more than one problem involved in wool sensitivity. Some people who are allergic to wool are allergic to lanolin, while others have a problem with the wool fiber itself. In many cases, the latter is not a true allergy, merely a reaction to the scratchiness of the wool, but there's no reason why a true allergy to the wool fiber could not exist. It's certainly possible that small fragments of wool fiber could provoke an immune response, with or without lanolin.
I don't know whether Superwash wool is 100% free of lanolin, but the extensive chemical treatment involved in its manufacture, and all the associated washing, makes it seem very likely. Doing your own skin test with low-lanolin wool is a good idea. There's no other way to find out whether or not you can tolerate that wool. Just don't be too slow to remove the test sample if you have a bad reaction! It makes sense in this case to try it for yourself; if you go to an allergist, they will base their advice on skin tests, which are just a more refined form of trial and error. If you do go to an allergist, you may wish to take some samples of yarn with you.
My mother, Jan Burch, is badly allergic to lanolin, and has never tried the Superwash wool. She can tell very quickly if she touches wool with any lanolin in it, because she gets a burning sensation in her skin almost immediately, but some allergies can take a day or two to become obvious. She suggests that you try yarns made from cashmere or alpaca, as neither provokes an allergic response in her, since the animals they come from are quite different from sheep. However, you must always be careful to check each batch of yarn. On one occasion, she was working with some angora yarn; angora, being made from rabbits, is free of lanolin. However, it turned out that there was some wool in the fiber blend. Wool is frequently included in blends with other fibers because of the usefulness of its crimp.
I would be very interested in knowing whether you, with your allergy to lanolin, are able to tolerate Superwash wool. I'm sorry that I can't tell you in advance how likely this is to be true.
Followup:
Thank you so much for your kind reply. I wanted to let you know that I am successfully knitting a pair of socks from superwash wool.
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