Dying fabric?

[Anonymous No.6824422]

I want to use a specific fabric texture in a very specific shade of color for a cosplay but no stores around here carry what I need.

Is it possible to dye fabric in a very SPECIFIC way as to get an exact shade of color? I tried using that RIT dye they sell in every craft store but it seemed unreliable and sort of like a roll of the dice.

[Anonymous No.6824498]

I wouldn't suggest using RIT for that - it's more for "hey I want to dye this thing blue" and not for a specific shade.

What is the texture that you need to dye? You should be looking for procion (if your fabric is cotton, rayon, or a blend that is mostly one of those) or acid dye (if your fabric is silk, wool, or nylon). If your fabric is polyester or another synthetic, you're going to have major issues. There's a site called dharmatrading that sells the supplies and has a lot of helpful info. Procion and acid dyes come in a much larger range of colors than RIT, and you will likely have to do some experimentation and color mixing to get a specific shade.

[Anonymous No.6824507]

Related Question: Some people say you can dye Spandex/lycra/nylon blends. I really need to for a cosplay, as I have the perfect fabric, but I need it to be a tinge more green. Right now it's a yellow-green. Some people recommend acid dyes for this, any help please?

[Anonymous No.6824586]

>>6824507
I've dyed spandex with heavily watered down acylic paint, went from a light grey to a magenta/red. So if you can't get acid dyes, that might be an option.

[Anonymous No.6824588]

>>6824507
Acid dye definitely works on nylon. Blends are always weird because depending on how the fabric is woven, and what percentage the blend is, you will get differing results. If you are just trying to tint it, vs. make a strong difference in the color, that should totally be possible though.

I haven't used acid dye in a long time so I'm a little rusty on the steps, but dharmatrading should have a full explanation of the process. Dharma sells the stuff you need, as would a larger art supply store like a Dick Blick or a Pearl Paint (if those even still exist - like I said, it has been a while).

Looks like prochem sells the stuff too (I've only bought silkscreen ink from them but I'm sure their dye is fine too) and you'll need a big cooking pot (something you won't use for food - try the thrift store). Basic directions here: http://www.prochemical.com/directions/WF_ImmersionNylon.htm

[Anonymous No.6824595]

>>6824588
(*woven, or in your case probably, knit)

[Anonymous No.6824596]

>>6824422
http://taeliac.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-RIT-Dye-Color-Chart-68381059

http://www.ritdye.com/colorit_color_formula_guide

[Anonymous No.6824624]

>>6824586
Hmm, thanks! Wouldn't it come out when you wash it or get water on it though? Doesn't seem like it'd actually dye it. I could be wrong though.

>>6824588
Thanks for the info, friend. I'll get on it.

[Anonymous No.6824780]

>>6824422
http://www.kemtex.co.uk/

These are the dyes we use in our textiles lab. they come in a pretty wide range of colours, but you can also mix them to get the right hue, and you vary the percentage to change the shade. Cotton can only be dyed with direct or procion dye, silk can be dyed with direct, procion or acid. I don't know about reactive dyes, since I've never used them.

You'll need some extra chemicals for fixatives (apart from for cotton, when you just use table salt), hot running water and a dust mask. The dye makes a bit of a mess but comes off surfaces easily with bleach. Don't try to dye it in the washing machine. The dye looks expensive, but I dyed about 5 metres of silk (that weighed about 300g) bright scarlet with only 13g of dye powder, so you probably won't need a lot. The dye comes with instructions, and there's tips etc on the site.

> Sales patter over. I don't think I've ever used the word 'dye' so many times in two paragraphs. Do feel free to ask questions, there's probably some stuff I've missed.

[Anonymous No.6824890]

>>6824780
Yikes, that looks complicated.

Which dyes on the list on that webpage would be appropriate for wool? And what fixative chemicals would be required?

[Anonymous No.6824942]

>>6824890
It's not that hard, haha. You kind of just boil everything up and throw it in. You'd be needing to use acid dyes from one of these lists - http://www.kemtex.co.uk/dischargeable.html; http://www.kemtex.co.uk/illuminating.html.. You should be careful with wool, as it starts to pile in heat, so you have to periodically heat and then cool the dye bath. The fixing agent you'd use is ammonium sulphate (http://www.kemtex.co.uk/AMMONIUM_SULPHATE.html)), so make sure you have plenty of ventilation. There's better instructions here - http://www.dharmatrading.com/info/ad.html.. Wherever it says vinegar, you'd use the ammonium sulphate. That page does give washing machine instructions, but you get much more control with a dye bath, as you can take the fabric out, dry a bit to check the colour, and then put it back in if it's not dark. These dyes can all be over-dyed as well as mixed.

[Anonymous No.6825047]

>>6824507
I've dyed Spandex AND Lycra with RIT dyes. Just read the instructions and add extra vinegar. I was really pleased with my results both times. If you're dying a pre-sewn garment though, it won't sew the thread. I dyed some formal gloves dark blue and the threads stayed light with RIT.

[Anonymous No.6825146]

>>6824780

How would someone without access to a textile lab dye a long length of fabric evenly? Like 8-10 metres? I mean- washing machine, huge pot on the stove, big plastic bin full of dye? I'm getting to the point where I need to dye my own fabric because I can't find the colours I want, but god, it's kind of intimidating.

[Anonymous No.6825188]

>>6825146
To dye some larger bits of fabric I sometimes use a baby bath or one of those old water boiling urns that they have in canteens. A washing machine would probably get the most even result, but it gives you no control over the final colour. You could probably use a large water butt or something similar, as long as you can keep it heated for long enough, although if you're dying it a light colour or something easy like blue, that shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as it starts out boiling. You basically need to be able to totally immerse all the fabric without it being folded or too crumpled, since that's what causes patchiness, and you also need to move it around constantly. You have to remember that the dry weight of the fabric will more than double when wet, so if you're dying something thick like cotton jersey or wool, it's going to be pretty hard work. You also have to use a lot of extra fixative, and you may want to use a dye solvent, since dye powder doesn't really dissolve easily in large quantities.

Another thing you need to make sure is that you wash the fabric thoroughly before and after dying. Fabric you buy from shops is often dusty and coated with preservative, which stops the dye taking as well, and if you don't wash it out properly afterwards, it'll run. You can wash most any fabric with boiling water and some washing up liquid, but for big bits I put it in the washing machine on a normal wash setting pre-dying, and then an extra rinse and spin cycle post-dying. And don't forget to allow for a 5-10% shrinkage during the dying process.

[Anonymous No.6825221]

anyone ever use idye poly? (pic related) is it only available online or do you think I could find it at a fabric store?

[Anonymous No.6825223]

>>6825221
I bought it at JoAnn once, and used it with regular iDye together 50/50 to dye white and black checker fabric in a cotton/poly blend to white and purple. It worked surprisingly well!

NEVER EVER EVER use a pot that you will ever eat from with iDye Poly though for the love of fuck. go buy a shitty pot at the thrift store and sharpie FOR FABRIC DYEING ONLY on the outside.

[Anonymous No.6825232]

>>6825223
Awesome, thanks! I already have a fabric dye pot since I don't trust any sort of dye near anything for my mouth.

[Anonymous No.6825275]

Is it possible to dye something (possibly a large something) so that there's a gradient from pink to blue without having a purple in-between color? That's the closest I can describe the way it looks like to me; attached picture has the clearest example I could find through a quick Google Image search. (It happens along the bottom of her kimono as well as on her sleeves, hence the "possibly large" bit.)

[Anonymous No.6825352]

>>6825221
Yes. It worked great. Got it at JoAnns.

[Anonymous No.6825411]

>>6825275
I would say *probably* not. The only way you could do this to begin with is by starting with white, and to get a gradient you would have to have them overlap- this is always going to result in purple.

What came to mind for me looking at this is to first dye the appropriate parts pink and blue, and then to PAINT the gradient in the transition areas, probably with a stipple brush effect to again prevent the purple mixing problem.

[Anonymous No.6825784]

>>6825411
Ah, thanks, I wasn't too optimistic about being able to dye that. That's a great idea about painting the transition, though, thank you!

[Anonymous No.6826526]

>>6825275

[Anonymous No.6826796]

>>6826526
I've seen this already, but I assume this sort of dyeing wouldn't be able to get the pink-to-blue effect without a purple overlap, which is what I asked about.

[Anonymous No.6826942]

>>6825188

Thank you.

Fortunately, I don't need -exact- colours since I'm not trying to match anything, and I'll be working with mostly lightweight fabrics and lighter colours, so that makes it a bit easier I guess!

The only thing I'd worried about the washing machine was- wouldn't such a long length of fabric get all tangled up in there?

[Anonymous No.6826957]

>>6826942
You can unknot bedsheets, right? Cloth belts never seem to work out into a perfect, tight knot either. If you're worried about the edges fraying, I hope you have a sewing machine, just baste the raw edges or temporarily sew them together into a tube.

captcha: appear Girstag. Sounds like some day of doom heralded by a slavering horde of Invader Zim fans.

[Anonymous No.6826958]

>>6826796
Might be possible with a steady enough hand, but do what you think you can.

[Anonymous No.6827592]

>>6826958
I've considered it! But I also have zero experience dyeing and don't trust myself not to let the colors bleed through. I think the closest I got in my mind was dyeing the ends separately, but I think I convinced myself that the place where the two colors met would have to be practically white, which doesn't seem to be right either. Luckily I don't think this is going to happen soon, so I have a lot of time to keep thinking about it.

[Anonymous No.6827611]

>>6827592
To be honest I can see a thin bit of purple between the pink and the blue in that image, so either way you should be fine. I don't think it'd be too noticeable if you overlapped somewhat.

[Anonymous No.6827632]

>>6827611
Hm, okay. Sounds like I have something to experiment with now. Thanks!