AKICODW/LJ/FB: dying fabric in the washing machine

[firecat]

I have four organic cotton king-sized sheets in "ivory" and I want to dye them a solid color using the washing machine. I don't feel strongly that the dye job should be perfect but I'd rather avoid the sheets bleeding out over other stuff in the wash later on. I've done a bunch of research on this on DharmaTraders.com and I gather I have two options:

•"iDye" prepackaged dye + fixative
•Procion dye + salt + soda ash

DharmaTraders says "iDye" is not very color-fast. We wash all our linens together on hot, so I figured it might not be a good option.

-->Have you used "iDye" and would you concur with this opinion?

DharmaTraders also recommends adding a number of extra ingredients to the Procion recipe in order to get a more uniform, more intense, and/or more lasting color. The ingredients are:
•urea for brightening and fixing the color
•special detergent for pre- and post-washing
•calsolene oil for more uniform color

They also recommend that you premix the dye and then pour it through a cloth filter.

The urea, detergent, and oil come in large packages compared to the amount I would use for this one project, and I'm not planning to make this a regular hobby, and I don't want to have extra chemicals lying around forever. So I'm wondering how important they are. Do you use them? Why or why not?

Comments

[piranha]

i haven't done anything with "idye", but it turns out i have a site bookmarked for a completely different reason, where somebody talks about her experience dyeing diapers: http://totallysmittenmama.blogspot.com/2009/06/idye-trials.html -- those would seem like good people to ask how the idye has stood up to continued washing; can't get more demanding than diapers.

i always use urea with procion dyes; it is cheap, and makes a difference. i don't buy it from dharma though, but locally, where i have more choices about the quantity.

i do premix and pour through a cloth filter.

i've never used special detergent or calsolene oil -- why not? i'm not usualy intent on uniform colour (but i've gotten it without these ingredients). but i've also never dyed mass quantities in the washing machine, so maybe they help there.

also, i am not the most experienced dyer; i play around with small quantities of experimental stuff more than anything else, and have more experience with natural dyes than with commercial ones.