Dying clothes

jago25_98

Hope this is the right section?

Got given some 2nd hand clothes.

Don't like the faded Jeans though. Wondered what fun I could have making them look different.

Found some info here:
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/washingmachine.shtml

Last time I tried to dye Jean Shorts after they got accidently died pink I used dye remover. This got the pink out leaving the original colour absolutely in tact - TOP TIP! However, I want to get to white if possible to try lighter colours. Is that possible?

Any other cool things to try with old clothes?

Pink.

Hi jago,

I'm not sure if you can dye things lighter, as I've only ever used dyes to refresh a colour, but if you look on the Dylon website you should find out whether or not it's possible.

Pink

Edited to add....
Just had a look there and it says you can use the fabric colour stripper to remove the colour from fabric before dying things lighter, so it must be possible....don't know about white though :think:

APennySaved

[ Bumping this thread that I found, a mere(!) 11 years after it was started, rather than start another thread with exactly the same title! : ]


Anyone know how well material of the colour orange works as a product to be dyed?

I last did some dying over a decade ago. So am a bit rusty in this type of craft!

I am concerned that orange is a vibrant colour so might not dye well. Especially as the orange colour of this particular material is a very strong hue! (I've had a look online - it's approx. the tint of orange as per the #FF6600 Hex Web Color at: http://www.colorcombos.com/colors/FF6600)

I am hoping to transform the item of clothing into a less 'in-yer-face' colour. I thought burgundy/maroon would be good: i.e. deep red (not dark brown).

( . . . Oh no! Have just found out that even burgundy & maroon differ slightly! :rotfl: See comparison image at: https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-e2339f04c92605e59d2fa78b29e26abd-c. )

Anyway, I thought a nice dark red would be a good colour to aim for, & perhaps reachable if orange is on the same colour spectrum as red.

As the material, & the lining, are made of cotton, I know the fabric is porous enough to do a good dye job. (Here's hoping, anyway!)

What colour dye would be best to use with orange to get a nice burgundy/maroon result? I am hoping to avoid getting an unwearable muddy grey/brown!

Does anybody suggest I use a strip-colour option i.e. a pre-dye stage? Or is this not necessary?

I have of course had a look at the Dylon website as I used to use their dye years ago (good old Dylon! BTW, is there any other manufacturer of dye products?!). They have some info. It states:

Colour Mixing
Fabric dyes will blend with the original colour of your fabric so you'll need to consider colour mixing rules.
• Red + Blue = Purple
• Blue + Yellow = Green
• Red + Yellow = Orange
Alternatively, you can use DYLON Pre-Dye to return a fabric to a neutral shade before dyeing to obtain the colour close to that shown on the pack.

(http://www.dylon.co.uk/hints/#mixingrules)

BTW: I was trying to remember the basic primary school education re colour mixing. All about the colour wheel & primary colours: Red + Blue = muddy brown?! I seem to remember! Ha-ha! :rotfl: So I Googled for an image of said wheel, in case this helped me. Then I found that there is now a small colour wheel that u can buy - a Pocket Colour Wheel - at online markets for only a couple of £. Handy gadget! So have invested in this as a starting point!

Anyway, I thought burgundy/maroon might be obtainable as a dye result. Any ideas?

All advice appreciated!

pandamonium

Some time ago I dyed some bluey grey towels with Dylon's Burlesque colour. A few washes later they look exactly as you would imagine the bluey grey mixed with a burgundy colour - kind of dusty purple. I'd wanted a more vibrant colour and wondered if mixing some red in might have helped. Your orange could produce an interesting result! My dusty purple was an improvement on the bleach stains - which incidentally have stayed covered.
Hope this helps a bit.

APennySaved

Thanks for your post, pandamonium:

pandamonium wrote: »

Some time ago I dyed some bluey grey towels with Dylon's Burlesque colour. A few washes later they look exactly as you would imagine the bluey grey mixed with a burgundy colour - kind of dusty purple.

Sounds like the Dylon colours are quite 'true', then! :T

So I shall await the arrival of my Pocket Colour Wheel to see if that gives me a better idea as to the colour of dye to use!

MallyGirl

just watch for synthetic thread used for stitching. I once dyed a white cotton dress navy. It looked great, except for the stitches which must have been synthetic and stayed white! I ended up going over every seam with a navy felt tip pen!

APennySaved

Thanks MallyGirl.

Yes, I had already thought of this polyester sewing thread issue :eek:, as I too had this problem decades ago when I first tried clothes dyeing!

Hey-ho! You learn the hard way, don't you?!

The zip is fortunately out of sight under the arm, so that shouldn't be a problem remaining orange. And fortunately there are no buttons . . . imagine if bright orange buttons were left on a burgundy dress! YIKES!! (Very Orla Kiely, perhaps?! And I'm not a fan of that designer! wink-wink!)

I had decided to risk it. I assumed the manufacturer has used synthetic fibre for stitching, as is frequently the case with modern manufacturing as it's far more durable. One of the reasons for going for a deep red (transforming from orange) is that I thought any thread might blend in to another colour on the red colour spectrum! Here's hoping . . . !

APennySaved

It looks as if the colour wheel idea will work! (Am still waiting for delivery of this item.)

I mention this as I have now found a webpage that shows usage of a colour wheel when dyeing material. BTW this webpage also answers my question re is Dylon the only manufacturer of dye products! As yes, there is another manufacturer of dye products: Tintex. (The company looks to be from Canada.)

Their website has a useful webpage (www.tintex.ca/pages/dyeing-colour-wheel):

Dyeing Colour Wheel
The dye colour guide helps you mix new colours using the 17 core Tintex dyes, but the colour wheel can help you when over dyeing. [...]

That webpage leads me to believe that some kind of violet (what we humans call purple!) dye, added to the existing orange, will lead to some kind of red.

In fact, I reckon using a dye-colour of "violet" (cf "blue violet") would create the end result of deep red that I am looking for (i.e. a more deep tint than letterbox red).

However, looking at the colour wheel image on the Tintex webpage, I have realised that the colour orange of my own material might be more "red orange" (cf "orange"). But I am not sure.

So as I am trying to avoid an end-result of purple, in fact I realise from the Tintex.ca image that I might want to avoid heading too far towards using a bluer dye-colour. So must I therefore keep to using a "violet" dye?!

. . . Oh, it all gets so confusing!

The item was reduced in the sale, so it's not a disaster if the dyeing goes wrong. But it's a lovely clothing item, so I don't want to ruin it if I don't have to! ,-D

Here's hoping!

APennySaved

More helpful images of the effect of colour mixing - hope this might help someone else doing dyeing :-)

Just before I start the dyeing task . . . :eek:

Have found some further handy images of the effect of colour mixing:

There appears to be another manuf. of dye products, that has the same name - rather confusingly! - as the Canadian company (www.tintex.ca); i.e. are also called Tintex! (www.tintex.com.au) (They are based in Australia. Probably an associated company??)

Anyway: they too have a helpful website. Info on "About Colours / Blending" & "Colours" is at URL http://www.tintex.com.au/index.php?main_page=page&id=5&chapter=1

Their 2 diagrams ("general principles of colour blending") are slightly different to the other Tintex website's diagram. Both diagrams provided by this Aussie company's website are very helpful, one in showing that if you mix any 2 colours from opposite sides of the colour wheel, you will just get a result of BROWN!

Interestingly, the Aussie company's webpage states "Red is a mixture of Violet and Orange" which, to my logic, means that I AM on the right lines choosing a tint of violet colour dye to add to orange. The question though is what EXACT shade of red will I get?! LOL! Hey-ho! ,-)