Archives for June, 2013

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Name: Todd

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Crayola Fabric Crayons

Make iron-on transfers by drawing on paper with special fabric crayons! For use on synthetic fabrics only.

Jacquard iDye Poly allows even beginners to dye polyester at home on the stovetop

iDye Poly Fabric Dye

Country or region: U.S.

Message: First, thank you for creating and maintaining this terrific web site to share your expertise with others. And, I want you to know that I did look through your FAQ. I found multiple possible solutions, but if possible I would like you to suggest what makes the most sense for me.

I have a long-sleeved 100% polyester "wicking" shirt for warm and hot weather when I want to keep cool. I want to dye it so I blend better into a forest background because I often wear it while hunting, fishing, or observing wildlife. Medium-light gray, brown, or drab green or a combination of one or all would be perfect. I don't care if the dye blurs, varies in shade, or is a somewhat different shade or hue than I expected.

I thought about using ordinary spray paint, but I don't want a shirt that's uncomfortable against my skin and I don't want to ruin its wicking ability. I also considered using a dispersal dye, but am hoping for an easier method.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Hi Todd,

The method I would suggest for you would be to make disperse dye iron-ons. Buy some Crayola fabric crayons, which look just like ordinary wax crayons, but are made of completely different materials. Use them to draw and color in a number of leaf shapes on paper (ordinary printer paper is fine). You could just do random shapes, or you could trace leaf shapes, either from real leaves or pictures you find online and print out. You can then use a hot iron to press the crayoned images onto your polyester shirt. Repeat this several times, overlapping the leaf shapes, until you like the effect. Use different colors, including brown and green, but possibly also black or occasionally a contrasting color, which in combination will give an even better camouflage effect. I like the idea of using leaf shapes because the overall result will be nice to look at closely.

Do not use ordinary wax crayons that are intended for children to draw with. You have to get special fabric crayons. They are just as easy to draw with as regular crayons. You can find these crayons at a fabric store, or maybe at a local crafts store; if you can't find them locally, you can order them online.

For more information, take a look at my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers".

You can also buy disperse dye powder, mix it with water to make a paint, and paint the shapes onto paper that you will use for ironing on to your polyester shirt. Let the disperse dye paint dry into the paper before ironing it on to your shirt. This is more trouble to arrange, since you should order the transfer dye from a dye company such as PRO Chemical & Dye, but it is less trouble to do, since you can paint large pieces of paper in much less time than it takes to color them in with crayon. In both cases the method of dye application is by using a hot iron, so there is no need to boil the polyester shirt with the dye, as you would have to do to get a smooth solid color. The transfer dye powders are available in more colors than the disperse dye fabric crayons are.

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Wednesday, June 19, 2013

I had some samples of disperse dyes sent to me. I want to try these dyes on a pure cotton T-shirt to see how they look and hold up. I don't know anything about dyeing. Can you tell me how to use these dyes?

Name: Dean

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Holly Brackmann's book
The Surface Designer's Handbook

includes directions for dyeing with disperse dyes

Country or region: USA

Message: I had some samples of Disperse Navy Blue EXSF 300% and Disperse Navy Blue ECO sent to me. I want to try these dyes on a pure cotton T-shirt to see how they look and hold up. I don't know anything about dyeing. Can you tell me how to use these dyes? What else do I need to add to the dye to make it dye the cotton?

Don't try to use Disperse dyes on cotton or on any other natural fiber. They have no way of attaching to the cotton fiber. Instead, use your disperse dyes only on synthetic fibers, such as polyester, acrylic, nylon, or acetate. If you do not have any suitable material to test your dye on, try going to a fabric store and buying quarter-yard cuts of suitable white synthetic fabrics. Different synthetic fibers may produce slightly different colors with the same dye.

Disperse dyes should be applied in boiling water, or by dry heat transfer after first applying it to paper. They cannot be applied at low temperatures. When dyeing polyester, you should use a dye carrier, such as Jacquard's iDye Poly Color Intensifier (which is included in packets of iDye Poly disperse dye) or PRO Chemical & Dye's Dye Carrier NSC. Do not use the dye carrier with fibers other than polyester unless specifically instructed by the manufacturer to do so for a particular fiber.

To dye a cotton t-shirt, the best choice is a fiber reactive dye, such as the Procion MX dye in a good tie-dye kit. Fabric stores often carry packets of Dylon or Tulip brand dyes that contain reactive dyes; look for the word "Permanent" in the name, to differentiate these from lower-quality dyes sold by the same companies.. You can also use a direct dye or an all-purpose dye, though both of these will tend to run when washed, and will not retain their color as long.

For more information on dyeing with disperse dyes, see my page, "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". For more information on dyeing cotton, see "How to Dye Cotton".

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Saturday, June 15, 2013

Is there a good way to SET food coloring in the clothing I want it to be in permanently? Name: Mary

Message: Tomorrow I'm doing color run where you run through different "stations" where you get bombed with a powder mixed with cornstarch and food coloring. Is there a good way to SET this in the clothing I want it to be in permanently?

No, there is no good way to do what you want to do. You cannot set food coloring in cotton clothing, nor in polyester or rayon. The only clothing fibers that can be permanently dyed with food coloring are protein-based fibers, including wool and other animal fibers, plus (sometimes) nylon because it resembles proteins chemically. This is because food colorings are acid dyes. Acid dyes don't work on cotton.

The problem with using acid dyes even on nylon or wool or silk is that you have to boil the fiber with the food coloring dye to get it to set, so that's totally impractical for your purposes. You could take 100% natural silk clothing that has been saturated with acid dye, let it dry, wrap it in paper, and steam it, but that is far, far too much work for any quantity of clothing.

The only way to "set" food coloring in cotton clothing is by framing it behind glass to protect it and keep it dry, and never washing it, ever.

"Tie Dye with Kool-Aid"

"You can't dye cotton with Kool-aid"

There is no cotton or polyester dye that will work at room temperature that is safe to apply to the skin on purpose. The only dyes that work on cotton at room temperature are fiber reactive dyes like Procion MX dyes in tie-dye kits, but these have not been tested for safety on people, and indigo, but it has to be mixed with caustic lye to dye cotton, so that's even more unsafe, even though you can use indigo in cosmetics. There is no dye that can be used at room temperature for polyester.

Sorry....

Paula

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Thursday, June 06, 2013

What is the best way to change our sofa cover from streaky lime green to dark kilt green?

Name: Ben

Country or region: Midwest

Message: Hi there Paula,

My girlfriend and I recently tried dyeing a set of covers for our Ikea sofa using Rit dye in the wash. It was streaky in patches, but mostly it was just the wrong color. We wanted a muted green, but got a lime green in the end. We are looking into using fiber reactive dyes this time around (it is 100% cotton), but we are curious what is the best way to change the color through re-dyeing. How would you advise we proceed to go from this couch to something more like this shade of Dharma dye:

Thank you so much!

Your sample of "kilt green" is dark and on the blue side, so you should be able to overdye that lime green to get it more-or-less the right color by dyeing with a navy blue dye, such as Dharma's Cobalt Blue. The cobalt blue has a slightly greenish cast, which will be perfectly fine in this situation.

The streakiness of the lime green might remain somewhat of a problem, though, unless you go for a mottled or variegated effect by using low water immersion dyeing (which happens to be the easiest of all sorts of dyeing to do; see "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing"). If you are bothered by the streakiness and want to dye in a solid single color, then it would be good to try to remove some of the lime green before overdyeing the cover.

What water temperature did you use to apply the Rit dye? Hot water is best for removing dye, but you don't want to risk shrinking the covers, so I don't want to recommend a hotter temperature than you've already used.

Some of the Rit dye can be removed simply by washing it in hot water. If that is not effective enough, you could use a sulfur-based color remover, such as Rit Color Remover (it's an excellent product by the way, much better than Rit Dye). Unfortunately, Rit Color Remover, like all sulfur-based color removers, requires hot water to work. As an alternative, diluted chlorine bleach might remove enough of the color, and it should be used in room-temperature water, so it does not pose a shrinkage problem. Chlorine bleach should be used only for 100% cotton, but that's what you have, so that's fine. It is best to follow chlorine bleach with a dip in Anti-Chlor, which is a chemical that neutralizes the bleach so that it does not continue to damage the fabric. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?"and "How can I neutralize the damaging effects of chlorine bleach?".)

If you succeed in removing much of the existing lime green, so that all that remains is a pale color, then you will want to use the kilt green dye, rather than the cobalt blue. Note that, as a very dark color, the kilt green requires a good amount of dye; using less dye will produce a lighter shade of green. Dharma's yield estimate indicates that you will probably need about three-quarters of an ounce of dye per pound of dry fabric.

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