Coldwater, fibre reactive dyes.
I have done some basic dyeing in plain fabrics before using the tray method and the plastic bag method. This time I wanted to experiment and extend my practice by using different methods to achieve a combination of colours in my fabrics, rather than single colours. Using Ruth Issett's book 'Colour on Cloth', my first trial was layered dyeing (p.56) to produce samples with several different colour ranges in the cloth.
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My chosen colour scheme was supposed to be from the stage two of my digitally enhanced images. This has more blue in it than the stage four image used in chapter 5. Observation of colours in this scheme includes: Grey, Cobalt Blue, Turquoise, Mid-Green, Yellow Green, Dark Orange, Pale Orange. Mix 1 based on Orange and Turquoise Mix 2 based on Turquoise and Magenta |
Day 1:
Using the recipe in Ruth's book I mixed Procion dyes for turquoise, scarlet, lemon yellow and magenta. I don't have a pre-mixed orange so had to test the mix of lemon and scarlet until I achieved the colour I wanted – using the white cartridge paper to paint a strip of colour, I came up with 45ml of lemon and 10ml scarlet.
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In addition I mixed Ultra-Marine and Emerald Green for later dyeing
Raiding my stash of neutral fabrics I chose the following to have different weights for stitching on: med-weight calico, cotton sheeting (new), cotton pillow cases (very old and well washed), old poly-cotton pillow cases, linen scrim, strip of edging from old cotton broderie anglais, various threads and yarns. All the fabrics were machine washed twice to remove surface dressings, then soaked in a solution of water and dissolved soda crystals.
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I packed the fabrics and yarns into plastic containers, poured over the colours; orange and turquoise in one, turquoise and magenta in the second container, then poured on additional soda solution. The fabrics were left overnight for at least 12 hours.
Day 2:
In the morning very little seemed to have happened to the fabric,there were too many undyed patches on the fabric – this was disappointing. What went wrong? Was there too much fabric for the amount of dye? Had I been too quick to add the soda solution? Had I added the extra fabric too soon? I still had plenty of dye pre-mixed, so spread the fabrics in a tray and dribbled colour on to the undyed patches. Gently scrunched the fabric together left them for 15 minutes then added a bit more soda solution, returned the bundles to the containers and left them for another 12 hours.
This time the results were a great success. Shown below fabric drying, then ironed and folded with thread and yarns:
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The second trial was based on Ruth's method for colour families (pages 69 – 71). I mixed the Emerald Green and Violet dyes and more of the Turquoise and Lemon dyes to work through the examples suggested, and following the instructions more carefully, set six bags of fabric away…
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Colour family dyeing with swatch cards of what should be produced!! |
Day 3:
In the morning the results of the colour family dyeing were not very good, so more mixing of the colour combinations specified and left them to work the magic. I think I must be putting too much fabric in the bags for quantity of dye used.
Overnight I had been thinking about chapter 7 and how I would add texture and stitching to my fabrics to make them more interesting. Fortunately I had good results with the mixed threads so have a good selection for stitching and couching. But I do need some plain fabrics in the basic colours to mix in with my beautifully patterned fabrics. Out with the dyes again, and three more bags of fabrics set away in Orange, Turquoise, and Ultra-marine. This time I have included some silk noil, silk velvet, silk hankie and sinamay as well as the cotton, scrim and calico.
I have transfer dyes in my stash of stuff bought at shows (but never got round to using them before!) so will attempt colouring pelmet Vilene, Lutradur, Tyvek and other synthetics to add to the collection.
Costs of materials
I didn't have to buy any materials directly for this work as I already had dyes, fabrics and yarns in my stash. However, if I were replacing them I would have spent over £100 based on these are approximate costs:
Item | Supplier | Quantity | Cost |
Procion Dye starter pack & Transfer Dye pack | Art van Go | 1 1 | £15.95 £18.95 |
100% 300 count cotton sheet 200x180cm | Asda | 1 | £12.00 |
Scrim (150cm wide) *1 @ £1 /m | Empress Mills | 5 | £5.00 |
Med. Calico (150cm wide) *2 @ £2/m | Empress Mills | 5 | £12.50 |
100% Egyptian 440 count cotton bundles @ £6.50 | Empress Mills | 4 | £26.00 |
Various neutral threads *3 skeins @ £1 each ~20m | Adelaide Walker / Airedale Yarns | 20 | £20.00 |
My friend and I buy bulk supplies of fabric and yarns at various shows to share for our textile work. These have been used as needed. The cost above are calculated from the bulk outlay.
*1 I Bought a 50m roll £45.60 (Inc. vat)
*2 I bought a 50m roll at £123 (Inc. vat) both to be shared with a friend
*3 we bought several large cones of neutral fibres to be shared I have used an average of £1 per 20m skein
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