EASY DYEING WITH PROCION MX DYES

There are many misconceptions about dyeing – that it's difficult (not true); that it's messy (doesn't have to be); that it requires special equipment Not so) or you need somewhere special to do it (also not so). In fact, dyeing is easy and fun, and can be done in your kitchen. Almost all the equipment you need can be found in most homes or easily purchased at a hardware store or supermarket. The only other thing you'll need is dye powder which is available in a myriad of colours from Tillia Dyes.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GET STARTED

Cover your bench space with newspaper, preferably with some plastic beneath it, especially if you have a Formica or similar bench top.

Collect your equipment and place it on your workspace. You can see how small the bench space is that I'm working on. This is what you'll need:

Procion MX dye powder from Tillia Dyes. Procion is the world's most widely used type of fabric dye, because it doesn't require any heat or steam to set. Don't be afraid to experiment with colours – you don't have to stick to the primary colours, as there are dozens of ready-mixed ones available. Today I'm working with Scarlet and Navy.
Soda Ash (sodium carbonate). You probably won't have this at home unless you have a pool or spa, but it's available at most hardware stores as it's commonly used to regulate the pH of pool water. It's shown here in the ice-cream container. Use 1/3 cup soda ash to 1 litre of hot water. Any unused mixture can be sealed and kept for several months.
Small containers to hold dyed fabric. I'm using large plastic yoghurt pottles, but you can also use ice cream containers or ziplock plastic bags. Be careful with the bags as even brand new ones can easily spring leaks.
Disposable face mask. While dyes are not toxic, it's recommended that you avoid inhaling the powder particles which are very fine. Masks are usually available from hardware stores.
Disposable gloves – available from supermarkets – or use rubber gloves intended for dishwashing. If your hands get stained with dye, it will wash off, but you may have coloured hands for several days.
Measuring spoons and mixing containers. Have a separate set for dyeing, and make sure that these are NOT used for food.
Fabric that has been prepared for dyeing (PFD). Commercial fabric normally has sizing and other surface treatments added to it to make it drape nicely and so on. These need to be removed as they can interfere with dye absorption, so unless you know your fabric is PFD, wash it in hot water and a good detergent beforehand. Today I'm using six fat quarters of PFD fabric.

Not shown in the photo but also useful to have:

A full length apron. Better than trying to get dye out of your clothing.
Plain table salt (not iodised)- optional. Assists with fixing bright colours.
A liquid detergent such as Aviscour to remove excess dye afterwards. Wool or soap-based detergents can also be used.

READY TO GO!

Soak your fabric which has been cut or torn to size in warm water and salt (if used). You can use the sink for this, as I have, or a bucket. You can apply dye to dry fabric, but when it's wet, the colours flow and blend better. This means you avoid those unsightly white patches where the dye didn't penetrate. When you're starting out, I recommend that you soak your fabric first, just long enough to get it thoroughly wet. Squeeze it out just enough to remove excess water, and put aside in a plastic tray or similar. An unused cat litter tray is handy for this, and for moving dye containers around.

MEASURING AND MIXING THE DYE

1 level teaspoon of dye powder will produce 100 mls of dark dye colour. I'm going for more of a medium dark shade today, so I'm mixing 1 teaspoon to 150 mls water of both colours. This is more than enough to dye 6 fat quarters. Normally I would use 500 mls of dye liquid (= 5 teaspoons) to 2 metres of fabric when dyeing in dark shades. Black is an exception – to get a deep shade, you need at least twice as much powder. And of course, if you want medium or lighter shades, use proportionally less powder in your mix.

I dissolve my dye powder in a 500ml bottle by adding warm water to it and shaking it well (with the lid on tightly!). These bottles have measurements up the side so are very useful for mixing dye. However, any suitable measuring container can be used to add the water if you don't have these, and you can blend with a stirrer or spoon. Just make sure you're not putting dye into anything people will eat from afterwards.

Some colours don't dissolve well and need to sit for a while after mixing, especially if you're not shaking your dyes to mix. You can have a cup of tea now if you want to leave the dye to sit for 15 minutes. Reds in particular, and red-based purples are the worst for this, and the result is powder spots on the fabric. Fortunately, Scarlet mixes up well so this is not a problem today.

READY TO POUR

Place your squeezed (but not dripping) fabric into the containers. These should be big enough to move the fabric around in.

I'm measuring the dye mixture but only roughly, as this is a fun session. I want to have at least 25 mls of dye liquid on each fat quarter. The first one is going to be plain Scarlet.

Scrunch the fabric around in the container, so that the dye gets to penetrate all the fibres. You can pull the fabric out to check there are no white patches.

Move it around more in the dye liquid if there are.

For the second fat quarter, I've added a small quantity of Navy to the scarlet dye. This will make a nice light purple.

For the third fat quarter, I added twice as much Navy to make a deeper purple.

OK, enough of dye mixing that way. For the 4^th fat quarter, I use the Navy by itself.

This is how the fabric looks before it's been scrunched in the dye liquid. Don't leave it like this!

For the 5^th fat quarter, I added some Scarlet to the Navy, and for the last one, I put the two colours on the fabric separately (above).

Here they all are in their containers. There's just one more thing to do. Once you've finished pouring the dye on and have left the fabric to sit for a little while (you can have that tea break now if you didn't have it before), it's time to add the soda ash. Don't forget this step! Soda ash is the fixative that bonds the dye to the fabric, so if you don't add it, most of your lovely dye will go down the drain. Here's the Rule of Thumb for how much soda ash to use:

Whatever amount of dye liquid you put on the fabric (in this case, I was using around 30mls), use a similar quantity of soda ash liquid. Just pour it over and scrunch the fabric around again to ensure the soda ash penetrates.

Note: some dyes change colour when the soda ash is added. Don't worry! This is just a chemical reaction, and doesn't mean the colours have gone haywire.

Now leave your fabrics to “batch” for between 2 hours (for the impatient dyers, like me) and 24 hours in a warmish place – dyes don't like it too cold. Most of the dye will fix in the first couple of hours, and over the longer time, it'll absorb all the colour out of the liquid so less will wash out when you rinse.

FINISHING OFF

Once the fabrics have batched, it's time to rinse. Wash each piece under running water (I use warm, as it's easier on my hands) until the water runs clear. Then put your dyed fabric into your washing machine with a small quantity of Aviscour or similar, and hot wash them It's safe to wash different colours together, but DON”T leave them sitting around in a heap while rinsing or afterwards while they're still wet, as you may get some colour transference onto lighter colours.

Remember that the colours will be several shades lighter when dry.

After washing, you can either line dry the pieces, or put them in the dryer. If you use the dryer, don't dry them until they're crisp and hot – take them out while still slightly damp and iron them. If line dried, you can remove peg marks by spraying with an ironing aid like Fabulon.

Here's the end result, in order:

Wasn't that easy?

Shirley Goodwin

Tillia Dyes & Fabrics, 10 Arun St, Oamaru 8901, New Zealand.

Website : www.tillia.co.nz

This eBook is intended for personal use only. No piece of the eBook can be reproduced without the permission of the author.