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firecatI 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?
•"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?
working with procion
Date: 16 Oct 2009 11:34 am (UTC)I did buy their special silk detergent, but that was because I was starting with their undyed fabrics, which they warn may have bits of stuff still stuck to them and are best washed before dyeing. That's probably not an issue in your case, and with cotton.
For intensity, they also recommend ordinary (non-iodized) salt for hand-dyeing. I'm not sure how much difference it makes (the purple still came out more lavender than amethyst), but it's cheap and readily available.
[edited to add explanatory subject line]