Dying
ART 142
Introduction to Fiber: Immersion Dyeing
We will be using natural fibers in this class that can be dyed with MX Fiber Reactive Dyes, or Procion MX Dyes. These dyes work best at room temperature. They are fairly forgiving and fairly easy to use (ideal for our set up and material limitations).
Fiber reactive dyes attach permanently to cellulose fibers (plant-based fibers) using a covalent (electron-sharing) bond. These molecules carry a "chromophore" which absorb varying spectrums of the light, allowing only certain spectrums to reflect.
Covalent bonding is the one of the most basic and strongest types of chemical reactions. This reaction happens gradually over time depending on temperature and/or the Ph level of the surrounding environment.
The Soda Ash pre-soak raises the pH level of the garment or fabric to approximately 10.5. Raising the pH level of the solution that the fabric or garment is soaked in raises the level of negative hydrogen ions in the dyeing environment. The chemical bonding process uses these ions in the reaction. Pre-soaking in Soda Ash fixer solution is what allows the fiber reactive dyes to work at room temperature.
The reaction can also be aided with heat. Some tie-dyers have had success with using baking soda and microwaving their dyed articles. Since baking soda is a weaker alkali than Soda Ash, it must be accompanied by heat. Some people who are "chemically sensitive" choose to use this method.
The dye is allowed to react in a desirable host environment for up to 24 hours. After this time, the bonding sites on the cellulose should be saturated with dye molecules. Excess dye molecules that have not bonded permanently are washed away using warm water rinse and a dye-carrying detergent like Synthrapol.
Polyester garments cannot be dyed by mere mortals. Polyester is created in highly controlled factory settings, using toxic chemicals at high temperatures. In addition, the dye is added when the fabric is in a liquid state. Using Rit or reactive dyes would be like trying to dye a plastic bag. The dye just doesn't stick. Similarly, acetate cannot be dyed.
If you have a garment or fabric that is half or less polyester and the other portion a natural fiber (like cotton), you can try using the reactive dyes. Keep in mind that the dye will take at about half strength. In other words, it's very hard to get a dark color saturation. Cotton mixed with a minimal amount of spandex (5-10%) will take the dye pretty well!
It will be easy for us to practice solid color dyeing on materials like cotton, linen, rayon, and silk. The best dye for vivid, color- and light-fast color are the reactive dyes.
Silk
Reactive dyes are easy to use on silk because they are so simple and can be done in the washing machine or in immersion. However, on silk, the reactive dyes do not come out the same colors as on cotton, so it requires experimentation to get what you want. If you want true-to-swatch silk colors and want to experiment with acid dyes, they require very hot water, either in the washer, or on top of the stove. Acid dyes will also dye nylon.
Silk can be tub dyed with cold water using the same method as for cotton. The colors on silk are not as predictable nor the same as on cotton. Mixed colors tend to shift one way or another. But it is so easy compared to hot dyeing that it is well worth trying. Soda ash will take away some of the sheen of silk and can give silk more of a stonewashed appearance unless exposure is limited. To avoid that, try the vinegar method below.
The method below yields beautiful colors on both wool and silk, although silk usually takes the dye better than wool. The dyes exhaust better on silk as well. Fiber reactive dyes give the best results when used on high-quality, white, pure virgin wool or 100% white silk. Reused fabrics or yarns may contain impurities which will interfere with the dye process. Oils or gum on the fabric or yarn will prevent the dye from taking uniformly. Fabric or yarns of an existing color will be blended with the dye color used. The color card is for the dyes on cotton. On silk, the colors shift. Best to do a test first. Fiber Reactive blacks do not yield black on silk. Use a black silk dye.
The following recipe is per 1 pound (450 gm.) of dry weight of wool or silk.
1. Place 1 to 5 teaspoons (3-15 gm.) of dye (depending on the shade desired) into a one-quart Pyrex measuring cup, add a small amount of cold water and work into a smooth paste with a stainless steel or plastic spoon. Add 1 cup of water at 60 degrees C (140 degrees F) to this dye paste. Stir well to dissolve all the dye and pour into the dyebath container (should be stainless steel, glass, or enamel, not aluminum or copper).
2. Dissolve 3 to 9 tablespoons (180-270 gm.) of plain salt (depending on the intensity desired) in 2 cups of warm water and add to the dyebath. Add the fabric. Add enough water to cover the material plus a little extra to allow the yarn or fabric to move freely in the dyebath.
3. Place the dyebath container on the stove and heat gradually to a simmer (just below boiling) and hold there for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 2/3 cup white vinegar and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove from heat, rinse in hot tapwater and wash with Synthrapol. Rinse until free of dye, gradually lowering the temperature of the rinse water to that of the room. Remember that sudden changes in temperature can damage the wool and cause it to felt up. Heat and cool slowly!
Wool
Wool cannot be dyed with the cotton method.
Acid dyes are also used for dyeing wool - again, they require very hot water, so your fabric must be able to withstand any resulting shrinkage, matting, or felting. For this reason, I do not recommend dyeing already-constructed wool garments, such as coats, sweaters, or dresses, unless they are really large, and/or you are completely willing to experiment with the results.
Procion Dyes
The Procion family of dyes was discovered by ICI in England, in 1956, and has been in continuous development ever since. Fiber-reactive dyes develop color inside the fiber, rather than on the surface, thereby improving light-fastness and wash-fastness. No dyes available to home- or studio-dyer are more permanent than Procion dyes.
Procion dyes are inert until dissolved in an alkaline solution—then they will attempt to make a bond whether or not a suitable fiber is present. After an hour or two the solution begins to lose potency to do new dyeing, even if there is still pigment in the bath. After several hours, the solution will no longer work, fiber put into the pot will stain rather than dye—the color will not be true or fast.
These dyes were designed for use on cellulosic, vegetable-based fibers: cotton, linen, jute, hemp, sisal, ramie, rayon.
The only chemicals required, besides the dyes, are Table Salt (sodium chloride) and Washing Soda (sodium carbonate). Soda is the activator. Salt levels color and improves the solubility and take up of the dye. Grocery store Washing Soda almost invariably is “improved” by the addition of bleaching agents. It’s a good rule to get your Soda where you get your dye to be sure of purity.
It’s possible to use Procion dyes on protein-based fibers: wool, silk, nylon. Two recipe changes are the key. Turn the bath acidic by adding any mild acid—distilled white vinegar (acetic acid), citric acid, oxalic acid—one cup per gallon of dyebath. And raise the temperature of the dyebath gradually to a simmer.
Basic Procion Recipe
This recipe dyes one pound of fiber to a medium shade. Results vary with the fiber used. To dye more than a pound, scale all quantities upwards proportionately. To dye less than a pound, scale down. For lighter or darker shades, use less or more of all the powders, keeping the same proportions among them.
For very dark colors, leave fiber in the dyebath for a longer time, up to twenty-four hours. For still darker shades—over-dye—do the entire process again.
Woven cloth needs less dye to achieve a given depth of shade than knitted cloth, or skeined yarn, or unspun fiber.
The left column below gives measurements in “kitchen” form, the right column in metric units. The kitchen units are volumes, inherently inexact for powders. If you can once master the metric form—calculating (scaling up or down, for instance) is vastly simpler and your results will be far more precise and repeatable. You’ll need an accurate scale.
If you get consistently poor results, check your water, your fiber, and your chemicals. Try a water-softener if the colors are dull. Let your water stand over-night if the colors are thin. Be sure your Soda has not been “improved”. Find out if your dyes are too old, or have been stored improperly. Follow the same recipe with fiber you’re sure is dyeable—an old, many times washed, all cotton T-shirt, for example.
SODA is washing soda, salt soda, sodium carbonate, soda ash. SALT is regular table salt, sodium chloride. A pound of FIBER is 2 to 5 yards of woven cloth, a lesser yardage of knits, the simple dry weight of yarn or unspun fiber.
|BASIC PROPORTIONS |
|1 pound |FIBER |454 grams |
|2.5 gallons |WATER |9 liters |
|1 tablespoon |DYE |9 grams |
|40 tablespoons |SALT |860 grams (2.5 cups) |
|4 tablespoons |SODA |48 grams |
Step-By-Step Recipe
1. Prep Fiber Prepare your fiber by washing and rinsing. Re-wet before dyeing.
2. Dissolve Dye Make a paste of the dye in a tablespoon of cold water,
stir the paste into a cup of hot tap water (140°F).
3. Dissolve Salt In another container, dissolve the salt in two quarts of hot tap water.
4. Mix Dyebath Mix the two solutions in your dyepot and add the rest of the water: in all, two-and-one-half gallons. This is your dyebath. The ideal temperature is 85°F, up to 100°F is okay (Turquoise MX-G, alone and in mixes, strikes best at 140°F).
5. Add Fiber Submerge pre-wetted fiber in the dyebath.
Let soak for six minutes, stir a little, keep submerged.
6. Add Soda Dissolve the soda in a cup of hot water, boiling if necessary. Add the soda solution to the dyebath. Your dyebath is now activated.
7. Stir Stir occasionally for fifteen minutes (minimum). The longer the immersion, the deeper the color. But for batik use the minimum time: activated dye solutions degrade wax.
8. Fix and Finish Rinse in warm water to be rid of excess dye. Wash with mild detergent in hot water to set the dye and remove all dye residues (normal washing-machine “hot” cycle is hot enough, simmer skeins, boiling is okay for cotton). Air dry. (If you are batiking, dry cloth after the rinse in step 8, re-wax cloth, and go back to step 2 for the next color. Finally, after your last color, boil out the wax, wash and dry cloth. Dry clean to remove the last traces of wax.)
Sodium Alginate Recipe (for use with Procion Dyes)
1. Make Gel Base
Work a tablespoon of Sodium Alginate into a quart of warm water, stirring until lumpless. A blender makes this very easy. Add five tablespoons of Urea, stir in thoroughly. The Gel Base can be kept for months, especially if refrigerated.
2. Make Ink/Paint Scoop out as much Gel Base as needed. Adjust the consistency: add Sodium Alginate to thicken, water to thin. For printing: thicker than an egg-white. For painting: thinner, as you like it.
Mush in Dye, stirring for three or four minutes. A teaspoon of Dye per half-cup of Gel is a medium shade. Experience will teach how much Dye yields a given depth of shade on a given fabric (note: the Pigmented Gel keeps 2-3 weeks if refrigerated).
3. Activate and Apply Sodium Bicarbonate (baking soda) turns on the dye. Add to the Pigmented Gel, stirring in thoroughly, one teaspoon of Baking Soda per cup of Gel. An hour after the Bicarbonate goes in, the Dye begins to die. So, activate in small batches, never more than an hour’s worth at a time. Brush or press or otherwise apply the paint to your fabric. Use several colors at a time, if you like.
4. Fix and Finish Air dry cloth. Then heat set: bake five minutes at 285°F, or press with an iron set at 285°F or at “steam”. If you bake, put a pan of water under the cloth. If you iron, cover the board and the fabric with clean paper (not newspaper) or scrap cloth. And press both sides to insure sufficient heat. Rinse your fabric in hot soapy water, then in warm running water until the water runs clear. Wash in mild detergent. Air dry.
MX Fiber Reactive Dyes
The purpose of the soda ash solution is to raise the ph level of the fabric, which makes the fabric more receptive to the dyes. Without using PH UP, your colors will be very dull and you'll be wasting dye powder. Make sure the product you buy is sodium carbonate (check the ingredient label) and not some other ingredients.
Process
Step 1: Fabric preparation
If you have not dyed the fabric you're using before and don't want to risk getting disappointing results, you may wish to prewash (i.e. scour) the fabric first. Some fabrics are treated with finishes that make it difficult for the dye to penetrate the fibers.
Scouring fabric in washing machine
Time: One washer & dryer cycle.
Use one tablespoon of New Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent (or similar product) OR one teaspoon of Synthropol and (optional) ½ teaspoon of soda ash per 1-2 yards of fabric. Open up the fabric fully to make sure the soap can completely penetrate it. This soap removes any sizing or finishes in the fabric that will inhibit the dyes. Hot water (140 degrees F) apparently works best, though cold water is fine too (that's all I use).
Look at the wash water and notice the color of the water. This how you want the water to look when you’re at the end of the dyeing process using the washer to rinse the excess dye out of the fabric.
Dryer (to preshrink & dry the fabric--optional)
You could just hang the fabric to dry. It doesn't get ironed until all the dyeing is done (unless you have an ironing fetish).
Cutting or Tearing
Some fabric tears very nicely on the grain. Other fabric will require rotary cutting to get nice even sized pieces. It’s important that your fabric pieces are equal in size with each dye session if you wish to achieve consistent results.
The amount of dye powder needed is proportionate to the size of fabric you are dyeing. The recipes provided here show you the amounts required for 1/8, ¼, and ½ yard pieces.
Coding the fabric
While you are learning to dye and becoming familiar with how the dye colors look when combined, I recommend coding each piece of fabric with its dye recipe number. This way, when you are sorting all the fabrics you’ve dyed, you’ll know which piece is from which recipe. I use a permanent black marking pen and write the number on one corner of the fabric.
Example: A 12-piece rainbow that you've named Rainbow #2 could be coded on the fabric as: R2-1, R2-2, R2-3...and so on, with the end numbers corresponding with each of the colors in the recipe.
Step 2: Soda Ash Pre-Soak
CAUTION: wear mask, gloves, goggles, and a protective apron. Soak fabric for a minimum of 30 minutes. There is no maximum time you can soak the material; you can leave it soaking for days or weeks without a problem if you keep a lid on the bucket to prevent evaporation.
Recipe:
One cup of soda ash per one-gallon (4L) of warm water. Dissolve thoroughly before adding fabric. This solution can stay at room temperature indefinitely. Put a lid on the container or the liquid will evaporate.
Always wear gloves and goggles when mixing this solution: it will sting your skin if you get splashed, and the fumes can be hazardous if inhaled.
After soaking the pre-scoured fabric for at least 30 minutes, the fabric is ready for dyeing. Squeeze the excess liquid out of the fabric (and back into your soda ash solution bucket for re-use) and set the fabric pieces in a clean container. The fabric pieces should be slightly damp.
Things to remember:
1. Always soak a few extra pieces of fabric so you’ll have extras ready to experiment with using any leftover dyes.
2. Make sure you don’t try to cram too much fabric into the soda ash solution bucket, otherwise the solution won’t evenly penetrate the fabric.
3. The soda ash solution can be used again and again, simply adding more soda ash and warm water as needed. Make sure you label this bucket so it doesn’t accidentally get poured out. Fabric can presoak in this solution indefinitely for weeks or months at room temperature.
a. (In regular immersion dyeing the soda ash solution is added to the dye solution and therefore has to be discarded with each dye session. That method works great as well but you do have to keep replacing the soda ash so it's not as frugal.)
b. If you’re going to be dyeing the fabric right away, you can get your work area ready during the 30 minute wait for the fabric soaking in the soda solution.
Step 3: Prepare the Dye concentrates
Mix the dye powders with water in the amounts shown in the recipe
CAUTION: Remember to keep your air/dust mask, goggles and gloves on throughout this step.
All the dye powders are mixed with room temperature water (75 - 95 degrees F). A very simple way of ensuring proper water temperature is to check it with your bare hand. If the water feels just like the temperature of your own hand, it’s ok. If water is too cold or too warm/hot, the dyes will not work properly.
Always place your water in a separate container before adding it to the dyes. Pick a wide-mouth cup or jar that makes it easy to dip your measuring spoons in. Water running straight from the tap can easily change temperature and ruin your dyes. You will also notice that if your tap water composition changes, your dyeing results might also change. I’ve noticed when our tap water starts smelling particularly strong with chlorine, my fabrics come out a bit lighter than usual.
You can store dye concentrates (in a sealed jar) for about 3-5 days at room temperature before they really start losing their strength. They can be stored in the refrigerator for several months (but always allow them to reach room temperature before using them). CAUTION: I strongly advise against storing dyes in a fridge that is used for food items!!
When mixing dyes, always place the measured powder (level teaspoons and tablespoons please) in the container first, then slowly add the water, stirring as you go.
Each dye powder has its own characteristics. Blues (including turquoise) tend to be a bit gunky and take a fair amount of stirring. Yellows look very cloudy at first but clear up nicely if left to sit for a few minutes. You want your concentrates to look clear before using them. Any unmixed bits of dye powder will end up making nasty color blobs on your fabric.
Tips
1. If you are using a dye concentrate that was previously mixed and stored in the fridge, let it reach room temperature before using it, and stir it really well until the concentrate is transparent again without any lumps.
2. Tap the lid of the dye powder before you open it to make any powder settle in the container.
3. Add an extra tablespoon of water to your dye concentrates so you’ll have leftovers to play with when you’re done your recipe. This amount of extra water won’t affect the outcome of your dyeing.
4. CAUTION: Make sure your measuring devices are dry before dipping them into the container of dye powder or and containers of chemicals. Even the smallest amounts of moisture can ruin the material(s) over time.
Step 6: Mix the Dye Solutions
Measure out and combine dye concentrates in the plastic cups to produce the various colors in each recipe.
1. Make sure you have all the necessary measuring spoons, cups and rinsing containers (for gloves and spoons) ready.
2. Add the required amount of additional water (if you're dyeing fat quarters, one cup of room temperature water is added).
Tips
1. Make sure the containers you plan to use are large enough to accommodate the total amount of liquid plus the fabric. If you’re not sure, test a piece first with plain water.
2. If you goof up while measuring dyes or solutions, promptly write down what you did so you don’t forget and carry on. You might just stumble upon a new colour you love. If you’ve prepared a bit of extra dye concentrate, you may have enough to measure out a replacement.
3. If you want your colors to come out darker in value, dissolve some soda ash in the dye solution before you add your fabric (1/8 tsp for 1/8 yard pieces, ¼ tsp for ¼ yard pieces, ½ tsp for ½ yard pieces…)
Step 7: Combine the Fabric with the Dye Solutions
Squeeze out the fabric (over the soda ash solution so any excess liquid is reused) until it stops dripping.
Tips
1. Mixing different colors requires counting and concentration. But even ‘goof ups’ can yield great results, but because most dyers want to be able to duplicate nice results, it is important to develop your own way of measuring the dye concentrate into lots of little containers in a consistent manner.
2. Agitation of the fabric in the dye bath will prevent modeling of the dye and produce a more consistent result.
3. Open up the fabric so there are no wrinkles or folds in the fabric where dye could either be trapped or that might prevent the dye from being taken by the fabric.
4. make sure to rinse your gloves before picking up a clean piece of fabric
Step 8: Curing the Fabric
Once you combined the dye concentrates with the fabric, you leave the fabric to cure or batch. That simply means you're leaving the dyes to work their magic.
This step can take from one hour to 24 hours (or longer if your work space is very cold). I recommend 3 hours or more. Procion dyes react best at room temperature or a bit warmer. If your work space is below 75 degrees F, you will want to leave the fabric longer to ensure the dyes have time to react.
Turquoise dye is reputed to take a longer time to cure than other colors. Some dyers insist it takes 24 hours. I have rinsed it out in as short a time as 3 hours with good results.
Tips:
1. You can leave the fabric curing longer than 24 hours – eventually the dyes exhaust themselves so no harm is done – just don’t let them dry or the results will be uneven (with dark splotches and light patches).
Step 9:
Rinse and wash thoroughly with Synthropol, Shampoo or Dawn soap, either by hand or in the washing machine. When the fiber has been washed and all of the loose dye particles have been loosened, the water should run clear.
Ombré
Rhymes with the Spanish word hombre, but is actually a French word meaning "shade" or "shadow".
Ombré, also known as dip dyeing, color bleeding, or gradated dyeing, is an effect usually achieved by hand dipping fabric in dye so that it gradually goes from light to dark, or sometimes from one color to another.
On high-end garments it lends itself well to flowing silks and other fine fabrics. On the low-end garments, we think a lot of them have perhaps been printed, airbrushed or somehow had the dye applied by direct application to simulate the more time consuming Ombré technique.
Silk painters have tried blending progressive colors with brushes, but it is time consuming and never quite looks the same. Professional tie dyers have achieved somewhat of an Ombré look by pre-soaking a garment in Soda Ash and applying successively stronger solutions of color from top to bottom of the garment.
True Ombré is a laboriously hand dipped wonder with subtle gradations from top to bottom. And it is not as easy as it might seem. Know that professional dyers have wrestled with this technique for years to get to the amazing garments you see for several hundred ( or thousand?) dollars.
Keep in mind that with dyeing, it is practice that makes perfect, and sometimes lots of experimentation! These instructions are purposefully a little vague as to timing and concentrations because different fiber content, weave and weight of fabric, as well as the individuality among dye colors will vary your results. Practice will also help you get the layers straight, even and more smoothly gradated.
Ombré Dyeing with Fiber Reactive Procion Dye on Cotton, Rayon and other cellulose fibers:
1. First, the container for the dye bath - In the interests of having a smooth transition of color from light to dark, you might want to use a larger than normal container, wider than the width of the shirt, scarf or dress you are dyeing, something like a larger plastic tub, deep enough so you can hang it neatly in the dyebath and then slowly lift it out without having it too wrinkled at the bottom, which might cause it to dye unevenly.
2. We think it best to rig up a pulley system (from a ladder, tree branch, over the counter cupboard door? – must be tall enough!) to be able to pull a measured portion of your fabric/garment straight up and out of the dyebath at calculated intervals until you've gradually pulled the entire garment out of the dyebath. We think you should put your garment on a sturdy (not wire) hanger (or dowel or PVC pipe?) and attach that to a thin rope or very strong string to keep the garment as straight as possible. Have a way of tying the rope off so it is easy to undo and re-tye at each step.
3. Basically you will be following our Tub Dyeing directions with some important modifications. You are going to change the directions by adding your Soda Ash fixative BEFORE you put in the garment. Have the dye bath thoroughly stirred with all ingredients (except dye) well dissolved. Using enough water to allow your garment to be fairly relaxed in the bath means you will use more water per pound of fabric than usual. Still stick to the cup of salt per gallon of water, and use roughly 1 oz Soda Ash per gallon.
4. Premix your required amount of dye (we recommend 2 - 4 times what you would normally use) separately in some water, maybe a couple of cups - make the amount easily divisible by the number of "layers" you will be doing. If you have a little scale, you can use our Dye estimator by plugging in the weight of your fabric, and the number of the color you are using, then just weigh out 2 - 4 times the recommended amount of dye, depending on how dark you want the bottom to be and how much contrast you want from top to bottom. If you are only going to have 4 "layers" of color, twice as much is probably adequate, but if you are going to have 8 layers, use more dye.
5. Decide ahead of time how many layers you are going to have and how many inches each will be. Add a portion of your thoroughly dissolved dye/water mixture to the dye bath and stir it in. So if you are going to have 8 layers of color, add an 8th, etc. Carefully lower your pre-washed wet fabric into the dye bath. If you want to keep a portion of the top white, as some do, don't lower it all the way. Allow the garment to be in the dye for a couple of minutes, then raise it with your pulley you've rigged up your desired interval, like 4 inches or whatever, then stir in another portion of dye, this time allowing to sit 5 or so minutes, raise it again, and repeat this until you get to the bottom of the garment. With each layer you will add some more dye and let it sit longer in between "raisings" than the last time, gently stirring the added dye so as not to disturb the garment too much, but so that the dye doesn't "settle" and cause uneven lines in the folds of submerged fabric. Basically, with every layer, increase dye, increase time.
6. Once you've removed the garment from the dyebath, rinse with cold water, then wash it in hot water and Synthrapol, as the tub dyeing recipe recommends.
7. If you want to go from one color to another, one way you might do it is to pre-dye the whole garment one color (a lighter color works well), then Ombré dye it another color. Have the 2nd color (a darker one that mixes well with the first color and makes something pretty) pre-mixed in some water. Add the pre-determined portion of it to the dye bath after each time you raise the garment in the same manner you did above. Of course, it will never get all the way to the 2nd color, as it will always be mixed with the first color.
Glossary
Batching Sometimes the word batching is used synonymously with ‘curing’ (i.e. leaving the dyes to react with the fabric for 3-24 hours).
Colorfast The fabric colors will not fade with repeated washing. If you follow all the rinsing instructions here, your hand-dyed fabrics will be colorfast. Also known as washfast.
Value (Color Value) - see color wheel
The degree of lightness or darkness of a color.
Color or Dye solutions Mixtures of dye concentrates forming various colors.
Curing Leaving the dyes to react with the fabric, usually from 3-24 hours. The curing process can be sped up considerably by using a dedicated microwave oven (used only for this purpose).
Dye concentrate Dye powders mixed with a small amount of water (and sometimes urea).
Dye or Dye solutions Mixtures of dye concentrates forming various colors.
Fat Eighths (9 x 22") One eighth of a yard of fabric, cut on the fold. A traditional eighth yard would be cut the entire width of the fabric, giving a long narrow strip. A fat eighth is half as wide and twice as long. For fabric dyeing, you could use a fat or traditional eighth with a recipe and get the same results.
Fat Quarters (18 x 22") One quarter of a yard of fabric, cut on the fold. A traditional quarter yard of fabric would be cut across the entire width of the fabric, giving a long, narrow strip. A fat quarter is half as wide and twice as long. For fabric dyeing, you could use a fat or traditional quarter with a recipe and get the same results.
Gradations A progression of values of one color, from dark to light or light to dark.
Half Yard With a 44" wide bolt of fabric, one half yard is 18 x 44" or 22 x 36" (depending on which way it is cut).
Homemade Synthropol See Synthropol
Hot water 140 degrees F, 60 degrees C
Immersion dyeing A dyeing method using greater amounts of water than in low water immersion dyeing.
Low water immersion dyeing A dyeing method using smaller volumes of water than regular immersion dyeing.
Mottled fabric Varied, not solid in colour.
PFD fabric PFD means prepared for dyeing. If fabric is sold as PFD, it means you shouldn’t have to prescour it to get it ready for dyeing— it should already be free of any sizing or finishing that would inhibit the dyes. If your fabric is not PFD, you have to prepare it yourself by scouring it (see Scouring).
Prescouring The process of removing any sizing or finishes on the fabric to prepare it for dyeing.
Procion MX dyes Fiber reactive synthetic dyes designed for natural fibers. You must wear a mask and gloves and eye protection while mixing these dyes.
Room temperature 75-95 degrees F, 21-43 degrees C.
Scouring The process of removing any sizing or finishes on the fabric to prepare it for dyeing.
Soda ash Also known as sodium carbonate or the by the product name Ph UP (sold for swimming pools). A solution of soda ash (which comes in powder form) and water is used to increase the Ph level in the water. A Ph level of 10 makes fabric very receptive to Procion Mx dyes. You must wear a mask and gloves and eye protection while handling soda ash and soda ash solution.
Soda ash solution Soda ash dissolved in warm water (1 cup soda ash per 1 gallon/ 4L of water).
Synthropol A strong cleaning agent. Comes in liquid form. Can be used to prescour fabric, and can be added to dye concentrates to make the dye mix better. Can also be used to make the fabric dye more evenly.
I have found this mixture works in a similar fashion for a fraction of the cost: mix one part liquid Joy detergent with 3 parts rubbing alcohol and shake it up. The formula for prescouring is 1 teaspoon per 1-2 yards of fabric.
A squirt of liquid dishwashing detergent such as New Dawn or Joy in the washing machine to wash the dyes out of the fabric at the end of the fabric dyeing process.
Urea A moisturizing compound that basically helps water stay wet (instead of evaporating). It can be added to dye solutions (to keep them from drying out) for dye painting and tie dyeing where the curing fabric will not be immersed in water. Use 3t per 1 cup water.
Value (Color Value) - see color wheel
The degree of lightness or darkness of a color.
Warm water
70-90 degrees F, 21-32 degrees C.
Washfast The fabric dyes will not run or bleed when the fabric is wet or washed. Also known as colorfast.
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