Fiber reactive dying

[cascadiabound]

Anyone have a lot of experience with fabric dying and over-dying?
I have done some, but it was rather a long time ago and my knowledge does not feel current. I used procion in the past and I think they are still the gold standard (please don't tell me to use RIT dye - I do not want it to run and stain other things).

My SO has an old olive green wool blanket that he wants overdyed. He pretty much wants it any color other than olive green, preferentially some version of brown. I am dubious about this going well. I think I might be able to achieve the result he wants over-dying with red or purple. But I am having trouble finding any resources on this.

Anyone have any experience? What color would you try to over dye olive green with to get brown- something?
Thanks.

 

[Que]

I've only ever used RIT it seem like I used powder before. A while ago, I tried a liquid in black. Back when I was driving my truck I had left my beloved Ralph Lauren pearl snap in the backseat of the car and it got Sun-faded. Streaks where it was haphaxardly creased. It was definitely ruined so I figured that dying it wouldn't hurt but I thought it would look dyed. When I got done it just looked brand new again didn't even dye the label. I've washed it many times with all of my regular button-downs and none of it bled onto anything else.

 

[cascadiabound]

I've only ever used RIT it seem like I used powder before. A while ago, I tried a liquid in black. Back when I was driving my truck I had left my beloved Ralph Lauren pearl snap in the backseat of the car and it got Sun-faded. Streaks where it was haphaxardly creased. It was definitely ruined so I figured that dying it wouldn't hurt but I thought it would look dyed. When I got done it just looked brand new again didn't even dye the label. I've washed it many times with all of my regular button-downs and none of it bled onto anything else.

Thank you for the feedback. Good to know that RIT, even black, once set, won't bleed into other things.

Might try that after all.

 

[rae121452]

Anyone have a lot of experience with fabric dying and over-dying?
I have done some, but it was rather a long time ago and my knowledge does not feel current. I used procion in the past and I think they are still the gold standard (please don't tell me to use RIT dye - I do not want it to run and stain other things).

My SO has an old olive green wool blanket that he wants overdyed. He pretty much wants it any color other than olive green, preferentially some version of brown. I am dubious about this going well. I think I might be able to achieve the result he wants over-dying with red or purple. But I am having trouble finding any resources on this.

Anyone have any experience? What color would you try to over dye olive green with to get brown- something?
Thanks.

there's another problem. rit dye works best if you use the powder which requires boiling water. boiling a wool blanket is going to make it shrink hugely. rit cold water dyes are not nearly as good, but since it is a blanket that isn't probably going to be washed frequently it might work well enough.

if you want to dye it brown, just use a brown dye. it will come out a deeper shade of brown than the dye but that shouldn't be a problem since any shade, you say, will do. the olive green is a good base for brown.

 

[cascadiabound]

there's another problem. rit dye works best if you use the powder which requires boiling water. boiling a wool blanket is going to make it shrink hugely. rit cold water dyes are not nearly as good, but since it is a blanket that isn't probably going to be washed frequently it might work well enough.

if you want to dye it brown, just use a brown dye. it will come out a deeper shade of brown than the dye but that shouldn't be a problem since any shade, you say, will do. the olive green is a good base for brown.

Since I have not used RIT before I did not realize it required a boiling bath. Yeah. Definitely do not want to do that.

Do you think that a dark brown procion fiber reactive dye will give me a brown? It seems like some of the green or blue of the the olive might still read through? That was why I was thinking a complimentary color to over dye it with (purple or red)

 

[jaF0]

Tagging on .....

I'm trying to help clean out the house of a smoker that passed. Some of the whites have come clean, but many have not. I've been thinking of trying to dye some a darker cream or off white, maybe even a pastel yellow.

I have a washer and laundry tub, but no dryer to heat set anything. I've been wondering about doing the dying here, then take everything to a laundromat and use one of their big hot dryers.

 

[cara2272]

I don't have a lot of experience, but I have a few wool sweaters dyed with walnut husks. Walnut will stain wool a deep brown, doesn't take more than warm water to do it, and it doesn't rub off. It will stain anything else it touches though, it's a messy process.

 

[rae121452]

Since I have not used RIT before I did not realize it required a boiling bath. Yeah. Definitely do not want to do that.

Do you think that a dark brown procion fiber reactive dye will give me a brown? It seems like some of the green or blue of the the olive might still read through? That was why I was thinking a complimentary color to over dye it with (purple or red)

procion dye will work on wool but i've never done it. it requires a fixative and i would worry about the reaction.

 

[Que]

Thank you for the feedback. Good to know that RIT, even black, once set, won't bleed into other things.

Might try that after all.

I dug out the shirt to have a look at it and it does seem to be fading agreeably. It's got a nice worn look to it and you can't see the previous sun-bleached stripes.

It occurs to me though that my results might have something to do with the fact that it is 100% cotton which tends to take dye pretty well I think. I wonder about wool because of the lanolin content whether it is somewhat resistant to dyes, or whether the lanolin might hold on to dye and release it when you dont want it.

I'm assuming that this project is because that particular blanket for whatever reason hold sentimental value? Can you locate some sort of similar blanket at a thrift store and experiment with squares of that?

Is he just trying to hide the blanket in case the Army comes looking for it?

 

[rae121452]

have you tried soaking the whites in undiluted ammonia before washing? get plain old fashioned ammonia, not the scented, it doesn't work as well. also, you can soak them in peroxide and it will whiten fabric but you need to do in a dark place or a sealed pot and it takes a while, like a week.

 

[rae121452]

I don't have a lot of experience, but I have a few wool sweaters dyed with walnut husks. Walnut will stain wool a deep brown, doesn't take more than warm water to do it, and it doesn't rub off. It will stain anything else it touches though, it's a messy process.

walnut husks (in the u.s. black walnuts) work well on wool but again you're going to need a fixative. i used black walnuts once to dye someone's hair brown and it worked well but i wound up with brown hands. also, the sap is really sticky and hard to remove.

 

[cara2272]

walnut husks (in the u.s. black walnuts) work well on wool but again you're going to need a fixative. i used black walnuts once to dye someone's hair brown and it worked well but i wound up with brown hands. also, the sap is really sticky and hard to remove.

Oh yes, it's evil, no doubt But it gets the job done.

 

[NightL]

If you are concerned get it professionally done. Cost a few more $s, but if they say it can be done then the extra $s will provide assurance.

 

[cascadiabound]

I dug out the shirt to have a look at it and it does seem to be fading agreeably. It's got a nice worn look to it and you can't see the previous sun-bleached stripes.

It occurs to me though that my results might have something to do with the fact that it is 100% cotton which tends to take dye pretty well I think. I wonder about wool because of the lanolin content whether it is somewhat resistant to dyes, or whether the lanolin might hold on to dye and release it when you dont want it.

I'm assuming that this project is because that particular blanket for whatever reason hold sentimental value? Can you locate some sort of similar blanket at a thrift store and experiment with squares of that?

Is he just trying to hide the blanket in case the Army comes looking for it?

No. No sentimental value. In fact the blanket is already a thrift purchase. But he does not want the ultimate garment to look like it was made from an Army blanket.

 

[Adrraiya]

Since I have not used RIT before I did not realize it required a boiling bath. Yeah. Definitely do not want to do that.

Do you think that a dark brown procion fiber reactive dye will give me a brown? It seems like some of the green or blue of the the olive might still read through? That was why I was thinking a complimentary color to over dye it with (purple or red)

You can use dry RIT in a couple cups of boiling water then add to very hot water in washing machine with the blanket. You can do the same with liquid RIT. Either wayi would double or maybe even triple the amount of dye per pound off fabric

First was blanket in hot water with very small amount detergent then 2 cups vinegar in rinse water..... Leave wet blanket in washer and proceed to steps for dye bath

Once you have done the dye lozad, you want to then immediately wash in cold water with at least a couple of cups of salt then another load with half normal amount laundry detergent ( no borax, no washing soda, no oxygen, no bleach, no bleach alternative) then put 1 cup of vinegar in the rinse water

Once done with b!anket dye and wash you then want to remove blanket (put in dryer). Then put 2 cups bleach in hot water and run on longest cycle to clean washer after water fillsi recommend grabbing a rag, dipping it in the bleach water, wiping down all of the inside of washer (and anywhere that got dye) then let rag wash with bleach water. Rinse and then second rinse added one cup vinegar to second rinse


Have done this many times on many different fabrics. Some synthetics will not take dye and/or don't dye correctly

 

[jaF0]

^^^ That sounds like a LOT of water and electric for an old blanket.

Why not just do it in a laundry tub with just enough water to soak the blanket? Then no need to rinse as the next normal load of wash will.

 

[Adrraiya]

so... the problem remains that we are talking about a wool blanket. I think that this amount of heat, combined with agitation will not only shrink the wool, but might even felt it. I think it would effectively dye it, but I do not want to change the character of the light wool weave.

There are machine washable wool items. The question is how did the army intend for this to be washed

What about airbrush fabric paint instead of dye?