Pages

Friday, November 18, 2011

Fabric Dyeing

Don't be intimidated!  This is freaking awesome!  No more worrying about not finding the right color of onesie, shirt, whatever.  Especially if you run a boutique, no more wondering what color of shirts to buy.  Just get white, then dye them.  They tend to turn out prettier than the already colored items. I have done both.  But I am sure for some colors you may want to go ahead and purchase the garment, navy, brown, black, dark colors I suppose. 
I was scared when I first tried this technique, now it is a regular occasion for my business.  I love it.  So let me help calm any fear you may have!  If you want to try it out before you go big, get a little box like what I used in this tutorial, instead of the bottle of dye. 
Here we go...ready??


you can find this dye at Joann's and Michaels and I am sure online in many places.  I love grey...you may know that already from previous posts (if you were a follower of my hacked into, deleted blog...sorry I am still a little bitter)
Luckily, my customers share the same enthusiasm for the wonderful shade as I do.


Choose your method.  Open up the box and find which one works best for you.  I do my kitchen sink/bucket method.  Easy and I don't have to get anything out. Which then results in a quicker process.


So you will desolve the dye powder in a cup of really hot water and stir for 2 minutes, while you are filling up your sink/bucket with the hottest water you can get out of your faucet.  Follow the amount of water/ gallons as the box says. 

After your dye has dissolved in the small portion of water, add it to the water bath in the sink/bucket.  Then add your fabric.  It says to prewet your fabric...you may want to your first time. But since I do it all the time, of course I skip that step.  Thats me...

Submerge all fabric and stir a till it is all wet in the dye.  Set your timer for 10 minutes and stir again once the timer has gone off.  Repeat these steps for about 20-30 minutes til it looks about the color you want.



Drain the water from the sink and rinse all the fabric with luke warm water.  Ring them out real good.  Then wash them in cold water in light detergent and dry as normal. 



Look how pretty! There are so many fun colors that it is hard for me to decide when I go to purchase.  of course I always purchase grey and fusia (pictured)  I love the teal and that may be a staple as well.  I have used purple before and that is pretty.  Great for summer.  Try it!  You'll see.  You might be addicted just as I am ;0)


Enjoy!!

2 comments:

  1. One day I'll have to give this a whirl. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. New follower to your blog and I absolutely love looking around. Quick question I see u you use the powder dye. I bought the liquid and I have dyed 3 onesies they have all come out splotchy looking. Would you recommend the powder over te liquid? Thank you :)

    Yasmina

    ReplyDelete