Date: 6/27/04 12:29 PM

Are there any particularly good fabric dyes out there? All I know of is RIT, and I have had (predictably) so-so results with that in the past. I have a rayon, machine washable skirt that has washed out and I am thinking of dyeing it to restore some color to it. (It's basically ruined now with the color having bled out of it, so anything would be an improvement! Also, anyone have any tips for good dye retention?

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Yards in my stash? What stash? I'm working on everything in that pile...and all the stuff in the closet.

Date: 6/27/04 1:51 PM

For rayon, you can use Procion dye; see Dharma Trading for more information on how to use dyes, and what other dyes might be useful for rayon.  You can dye stuff with Procion in the washing machine, although you do need chemical aids - soda ash in particular. You can use Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (the no additive variety, don't use the bleaching kinds) instead of soda ash, it is the same chemical (bicarbonate).

There are also chemical products available which help set dyes - Retayne is one, but I don't know if it works on rayon. These are also described on Dharma's website (NAYY, but they have a helpful site).

Overdyeing can yield unexpected results. There is a previous discussion of dyes and overdyeing here..

HTH!

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mmmmm woooool

Date: 6/27/04 8:55 PM

You have to be careful to dye the skirt the same color or close to what it was, because polyester thread doesn't take dye. RTW is almost always sewn with polyester thread, and many of us also use polyester thread in our sewing.

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Debbie

Date: 6/28/04 7:18 AM

Debbie, thanks for the reminder. I dyed a pair of white pants a terracotta shade. Nice color, but all the stitches stayed white!!

I guess if you're planning to (maybe) dye a home-made garment, you should stick to cotton thread? Debbie, do you know if silk thread takes color well? I like sewing with cotton thread, but I think it ages faster than the others, and seams might break sooner after many trips to the washing machine?

Date: 6/28/04 8:43 AM

Annette,
Silk thread will take dye, but it tends to skew the color in unexpected directions from the colors on cotton, rayon, or linen (all cellulose, while silk is protein). Silk thread with silk garments would give a more consistent dying, but dyeing the fabric first, then putting it together with matching thread is a better way to go.

Threads had an article some years back by Linda Lee (June/July 1998, #77) about using silk thread for machine sewing. The gist of it was that silk thread blend into the fabric, sort of disappearing into it, better than polyester or cotton. I think she indicated that even an inexact color match with the silk thread resulted in a better looking seam than polyester thread, which tended to sort of float on top of the seam.

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Debbie

Date: 6/28/04 12:42 PM

Wow, guys! Thanks for all of the insight. I did, indeed buy some of the Procion dye from Dharma trading company which should dye rayon, cotton and silk. I decided to stay in the green family, thinking I might get better results that way, so I picked a dark green. And I got some soda ash and calsolene (sp?) which are needed for tub dyeing with this brand of dye. I also bought a recommended preparation that you wash the fabric in before hand to actually cause fibers to release any grease or dirt and help the fibers to take up more dye. It is a fiber-reactive dye, which makes it more durable because the dye molecules actually bond with the fabric molecules.

I am sure that you are right about the polyester thread. All I can do is hope. But there really isn't any topstitching on the skirt, except at the hem, and I can always cover that over with ribbon after I have dyed it. No one ever sees the waist (the other part where there is some topstitching) as it is a casual skirt and everything I wear with it is always untucked. Thanks for the reminder about the thread -- I would never have thought about that. I'll let you know how it goes when I get the dye.

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Yards in my stash? What stash? I'm working on everything in that pile...and all the stuff in the closet.