I'm going to tye dye some clothes this weekend for the first time. Anyone have any good tips so they turn out well?
why do people post who have nothing to add? see this thread to start: http://hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70675 what fabric are you working with and what dye do you have for your tIe dye? what pattern are you trying?
Well....you boil 'em them if you want a darker colour, and just use cold water...or was it warm? Meh, just don't boil them if you want a lighter colour....make sure the string or elastic bands are really really really tight....oh yeah, and if yur fabric is already dyed, you have to boil them! Or it will look heaps dodgy... But yeah, just have fun and get dye everywhere!
i just finsihed tye-deing onesies for my friends baby? im six diff colores, i had a FREAKIN blast, all by my lil self. Mad amounts of luck to you baby!
WTF are you using that requires boiling? real dye is cold water (analine) and needs an activator (good old washing soda/soda ash) cheap grocery store coloring for polyester needs boiling, but not ANYTHING worth using for natural fibers. I assume you have the folding/banding resist part down. My tips: fill a 5 gal bucket 24 hours before so the chlorine, if any, in the water will evaporate (like fish tank water) presoak all the fabric/clothes in 5 gal standing water to 1 cup soda ash. mix Procion (only) dye to specs. This will vary by color because of the density of some dyes) use a mask to keep the particles out of your lungs. If you heed nothing else here, do that. using an easy to control SMALL bottle or foam brushes, apply dye on one side of the item. flip, apply second set of colors. bag and cure at 70 for 24 hours, minimum. Colder? increase temp. This makes colors "pop." wash with synthropol if you have it, ivory snow DETERGENT twice (some lucky folks still get soap flakes) if you don't. remove att remaining bands at this point, and if you are at a public laundry, check for rubberbands in the washer. once items are flat, dry in dryer. If shrinkage is a concern, let this be the only dryer they ever see.
Thanks for the tips. I'm using multi-purpose dye, if that helps. The book I was reading also mentioned soda-does that mean baking soda? I was also wondering, I have white material and three different colour dyes, so how do I tye dye so the clothes has both colours and not the colour that they make together.
Soda Ash is not baking soda. For more info go to Dharma Trading Company. And I would use squirt bottles to apply the color. Make sure that you bands are tight on the fabric to prevent bleedthrough. And like someone said before rinse before youtake the bands off, and again after you take the bands off.
rinse it really, really, really well before taking off strings or bands. pick colors that don't just look good together, but if they mix. (generally speaking they will mix) even if things don't turn out the way you planned its alright, because that can be better anyway.
when selecting colours, think about which ones can touch. for instance, keep black and yellow separated, as a a really unpleasant olive green happens as the black breaks (blacks have dark blues in them) . Paul got it down to a science so he made these dumb lolling tongue happy faces we called "dose mes" when you wrap the peices to cure, don't have more than one in a bag. if they touch, its another bleed.
