Fabric for Hand dyes

I have become somewhat of a handdye fanatic. I love them and can't get
enough of them. I am considering learning how to do it myself. I'm a
chicken though. I'm afraid that I will get tons of money invested then
realize that I just can't get the hang of it.

So for all of you who have done or still do your own hand dyes, I hope you
don't mind answering a few questions for me. Here goes, at least for
starters.

What would you recommend for a beginner to get started?
What type fabric would be good to start with? Muslin? Bleached? Unbleached?
White? Natural?
If muslin is ok to use the is the muslin from JoAnn's ok to use?
Is it better to dye small pieces, say one yard, at a time or larger pieces?

Thank you all in advance for your input.

Mika
http://community.webshots.com/user/mikasdrms

Mika wrote:
I have become somewhat of a handdye fanatic. I love them and can't get
enough of them. I am considering learning how to do it myself. I'm a
chicken though. I'm afraid that I will get tons of money invested then
realize that I just can't get the hang of it.

So for all of you who have done or still do your own hand dyes, I hope you
don't mind answering a few questions for me. Here goes, at least for
starters.

What would you recommend for a beginner to get started?
What type fabric would be good to start with? Muslin? Bleached? Unbleached?
White? Natural?
If muslin is ok to use the is the muslin from JoAnn's ok to use?
Is it better to dye small pieces, say one yard, at a time or larger pieces?

Hello Mika,
Yes, dye smaller pieces, I start my students with 1/2 yards. We dye in
jars (low water immersion).
Use Procion dyes (Kemtex Ltd in the UK, Dharma Trading in the US),
which fix with regular household soda, and don't need salt, so the
environmental load is low. These are very safe once mixed up, and go a
long way. Buy a small kit to start with, but you can make all the
colours you need with Royal Blue, Lemon Yellow, and Cerise Red, plus
Black if you must (Black is harder...) Don't use cheap fabric for
dyeing, you will end up with cheap fabric on which you have spent
money... I sometimes use good quality high thread-count cotton sheets
(try your local commercial laundry for damaged ones) but if you are
hand-quilting, use something a little softer or you'll regret it... Use
bleached to start with. Buy PFD (prepared for dye) if you can, or
scour the fabric (hot wash) before you start. Linen is lovely to dye,
and I use a lot of very fine linen, too. Silk can be dyed with
Procion, but wool needs acid dyes.
This site
http://www.pburch.net/
has lots of good stuff about how to get different effects, and a good
page of links.

If you would like more advice, I am on
helen at raindropkites.co.uk

Best stuff,

Helen Howes

...those who dance are often thought mad, by those who cannot hear the
music...

Tao Te Ching


http://www.raindropkites.co.uk
http://www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk

Can't help with the dyeing technicalities; *but* - when you are choosing
fabric for dyeing, OK choose something cheap for your first experiment,
but thereafter choose fabric of the same (or better) quality as you like
to work with normally. I was at a lecture where the lady had dyed all
sorts of fabric and it became very clear that the better the fabric the
better the result.
There is fabric Prepared for Dyeing (PFD).
The quantity in one go depends on the particular technique you are
using.
..
In message , Mika
writes
I have become somewhat of a handdye fanatic. I love them and can't get
enough of them. I am considering learning how to do it myself. I'm a
chicken though. I'm afraid that I will get tons of money invested then
realize that I just can't get the hang of it.

So for all of you who have done or still do your own hand dyes, I hope you
don't mind answering a few questions for me. Here goes, at least for
starters.

What would you recommend for a beginner to get started?
What type fabric would be good to start with? Muslin? Bleached? Unbleached?
White? Natural?
If muslin is ok to use the is the muslin from JoAnn's ok to use?
Is it better to dye small pieces, say one yard, at a time or larger pieces?

Thank you all in advance for your input.

Mika
http://community.webshots.com/user/mikasdrms



--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

Hello Helen
This sounds something I must try when life has calmed down a bit! I've
done some silk painting/dyeing ages ago. Is there a simple place to
buy the dyes in this neck of the woods or do I have to mail order?
(I'm in Aldeburgh).

Loved your exhibits at Snape in the Summer.
--
Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~


http://community.webshots.com/user/sallyswinOn 12 Oct 2005 00:11:47
-0700, wrote:


Hello Mika,
Yes, dye smaller pieces, I start my students with 1/2 yards. We dye in
jars (low water immersion).
Use Procion dyes (Kemtex Ltd in the UK, Dharma Trading in the US),
which fix with regular household soda, and don't need salt, so the
environmental load is low. These are very safe once mixed up, and go a
long way. Buy a small kit to start with, but you can make all the
colours you need with Royal Blue, Lemon Yellow, and Cerise Red, plus
Black if you must (Black is harder...) Don't use cheap fabric for
dyeing, you will end up with cheap fabric on which you have spent
money... I sometimes use good quality high thread-count cotton sheets
(try your local commercial laundry for damaged ones) but if you are
hand-quilting, use something a little softer or you'll regret it... Use
bleached to start with. Buy PFD (prepared for dye) if you can, or
scour the fabric (hot wash) before you start. Linen is lovely to dye,
and I use a lot of very fine linen, too. Silk can be dyed with
Procion, but wool needs acid dyes.
This site
http://www.pburch.net/
has lots of good stuff about how to get different effects, and a good
page of links.

If you would like more advice, I am on
helen at raindropkites.co.uk

Best stuff,

Helen Howes

..those who dance are often thought mad, by those who cannot hear the
music...

Tao Te Ching


http://www.raindropkites.co.uk
http://www.helenhowestextiles.co.uk

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:31:02 -0400, "Mika"
wrote:

I have become somewhat of a handdye fanatic. I love them and can't get
enough of them. I am considering learning how to do it myself. I'm a
chicken though. I'm afraid that I will get tons of money invested then
realize that I just can't get the hang of it.

It is pretty simple really.


So for all of you who have done or still do your own hand dyes, I hope you
don't mind answering a few questions for me. Here goes, at least for
starters.

What would you recommend for a beginner to get started?

Depends.

If you are really really uncertain, Go to the Dharma Trading site and
blow $13.95 on the teeny tiny tye dye kit.
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/2170-AA.shtml
It is designed to do 6 Tee shirts or thereabouts, and has enough stuff
in it to give you a clue about whether you love or hate the process.
It is also cheap enough that you won't be cursing the impulse that
made you whip out your wallet if you decide dying is not for you.

Just stay the heck away from Rit, it almost never gives satisfactory
results.

Definitely go to the library and check the web for sites about the
process. I'd offer some but I have been flying by the seat of my
pants when it comes to dying (for some years now), and have never
bought a book and only done searches on specific techniques.

What type fabric would be good to start with? Muslin? Bleached? Unbleached?
White? Natural?
If muslin is ok to use the is the muslin from JoAnn's ok to use?

Muslin is fine.
I do a lot of fun stuff with unbleached muslin.
With just about any fabric, unbleached will give darker shades,
bleached will give brighter.
PFD fabrics will be a bit easier, they already have the optical
brighteners and other such junk removed for you. I just buy what I
need and wash the heck out of it in hot water and synthrapol.
If you skimp anyplace, don't do it on the synthrapol. You can very
successfully dye without it, but it makes your dyed end product play
ever so much more nicely with your laundry later on. It also keeps
the stuff you are washing out preperatory to dyeing from settling back
onto the fabric thus helping with consistancy in the process.

I suppose you could use JoAnn's muslin. I do not care for the
quality of JoAnns muslin, but if you use it for things then by all
means make it your crash test dummy. I only use fabrics that I will
be able to use in other things, even your major goofs can be very
usable in some quilt or other down the road.

Is it better to dye small pieces, say one yard, at a time or larger pieces?

By all means, start with little bits. When I am trying something new
I will often use a few FQs, certainly nothing larger than a half yard.
Not only is it more economical, but it is easier to handle until you
get the hang of it. I have done some fairly serious yardage, but
there is no need to go there unless you want to.

NightMist

--
"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge
it, requires brains." -Mary Pettibone Poole

"Mika" wrote in message
...

What would you recommend for a beginner to get started?
What type fabric would be good to start with? Muslin? Bleached?
Unbleached? White? Natural?
If muslin is ok to use the is the muslin from JoAnn's ok to use?
Is it better to dye small pieces, say one yard, at a time or larger
pieces?

When I do dyeing classes, I bring PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) muslin and I
have the students bring lots of scraps of white-on-white materials. Both dye
up beautifully. You can get some fabulous PFDs fairly inexpensively: Lunn
(http://www.lunnfabrics.com/cgi-bin/Store/store.cgi ) has some nice PFD for
$2.75 a yard right now and Kona PFD for $5.00 a yard. NAYY

I prefer PFDs because they take the color better. But that's not to say you
can't dye other things. Almost anything cotton will take dye. (Just talk to
a quilter who's had that red fabric bleed onto every other fabric in the
quilt! LOL) The problem is you don't know how well it will take dye until
you dye it. In general (and there WILL be exceptions), unbleached muslin
will take dye better than bleached.

On thing I'd stay away from is the cheap muslin at JoAnn's. I have tried
dyeing with that in the past, and it was impossible to get more than a
pastel color with it.

Start dyeing whatever size fits into your containers best. If you're dyeing
in baggies, that's probably a FQ. If you're dyeing in big tubs, it might be
5 yards. *grin* The tighter you smoosh it into the container, the more
variation in color you'll have, and the more white spaces you'll end up
with. The looser it is, the more even the color and fewer spots with no
color at all. Both are okay -- just depends on what you like.

The main thing is to remember to HAVE FUN!

--
Kathy A. (Woodland, CA)
Queen of Fabric Tramps
http://www.kayneyquilting.com ,
remove the obvious to reply

I went mad last summer and bought almost every FQ of WOW
(white-on-white) that I could lay my hands on - got some lovely results
using Procion cold-water dyes but learned one valuable lesson - when the
instructions say rinse until the water runs clear - *sit* at the sink,
don't bend over it...!

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the (undamaged end of the) pier!"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

Sally Swindells wrote:

Hello Helen
This sounds something I must try when life has calmed down a bit! I've
done some silk painting/dyeing ages ago. Is there a simple place to
buy the dyes in this neck of the woods or do I have to mail order?
(I'm in Aldeburgh).

Loved your exhibits at Snape in the Summer.
--
Sally at the Seaside~~~~~~~

Kemtex Educational Supplies by mail order are very efficient and
pleasant to deal with, their telephone number is 01257 230220 or website
http://www.kemtex.co.uk
They are in Lancashire, in Chorley, but are happy to send by mail!

Suzie B
--
"From the internet connection under the (undamaged end of the) pier!"
Southend, UK
--
Please remove NOSPAM when emailing me!
http://community.webshots.com/user/suziekga

I have other questions on the same theme: What are some techniques? I read
all the replies to Mika's original question. Someone mentioned dyeing in a
zip bag and that the size of container and jamming the fabric in would make
more interesting. I have done some silk painting and still have those dyes;
they are heat set with an iron. How do the other dyes get set? I dont'
have a steamer.

Thanks
"Mika" wrote in message I have become somewhat of
a handdye fanatic. I love them and can't get enough of them. I am
considering learning how to do it myself.

The soda that you add to the dye or the fabric is what fixes the
procion dyes. Then the unused dye must be rinsed, and rinsed, and
rinsed, and washed with synthrapol to remove the remaining dye. No
steamer required.

Try the Ann johnston's book Color by Accident - it has some great
recipes for low emersion parfaits. Dyeing is fun!!

You can scrunch up the fabric in a baggie or jar. I have done many
pieces in the same color family in one tub, separating each piece with
a sheet of plastic. you can get unique pieces, and they dye may run
together some, but the results have been great! I really enjoy shibori
too! Just get a piece of Pvc pipe, wrap with fabric, tie the fabric
onto the pole (use either string or rubber bands. Scrunch the fabric
up and dye in stripes!

If anything I have learned from experience it is to use PFD fabric!!
The dye cost isn't worth being spent on fabric you wouldn't use anyway,
and you will need less dye to get the same results with PFD.

good luck!
Carol in TX
Need Therapy? make a quilt!