Garment Dyeing

Over-dyeing is a great way to recycle and reuse a garment that you are not ready to part with. The garment in question may be a perfect but worn-out skirt that you've had since college. Or maybe you can't find just the right color cami in the store and would like to create a custom shade. Or you would like to give a whole new life to your wedding dress. The possibilities are as numerous as the contents of your closet.

There are many garment dyeing techniques and brands of dye on the market. There are just as many fabric dyeing recipes and variations. It seems to me that most people never follow a recipe perfectly. Last week when looking at a highly rated oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, I read through hundreds of comments that read something like this: "Great recipe! I added less sugar and substituted butter with margarine. The cookies came out just as perfect as the recipe said they would." or " I used less oats and more flour and the cookies turned out as awesome as all the other people said they would!" Just like the perfect oatmeal cookie, there is no one correct garment dyeing recipe. And like with the oatmeal cookie, there is a chance that the end product will come out lousy or fabulous despite incomplete adherence to the original recipe. The anticipation of the finished chewy chocolate chip cookie (or a perfect shade of green dress) is simply exhilarating. That's a chance I was willing to take! After some research and despite some protests, I dyed an ivory silk dress green. (It is worth mentioning that Chemistry was my favorite class in college!)

This is my version for water immersion method for a long ivory silk dress and is mostly here for me to remember what I did:

Ingredients:
1 2/3 oz. container of Procion MX teal powder dye (found at Blick Art Supply stores)
1 cup Soda ash aka sodium carbonate (also at Blick Art Supply stores)
6 cups Non-iodized salt (found at any supermarket)
6 gallons of lukewarm water (75-100 degrees)
12 gallon plastic storage bin (or a similar size glass, plastic, or stainless steel container that is not used for food)
2 large plastic yogurt containers (or similar containers that are not used for food)
2-3 plastic spoons
1 stirring stick (found at Home Depot or any paint store) or a wire hanger
2-3 old towels
a box of latex gloves

Directions:

Prewash the garment, if it has never been washed before, taking care to remove stains. Sadly, the dye will not cover up stains.
Fill the tub with lukewarm water and let your garment soak.
Line the bathroom floor with old towels and place the dye bath container on the towels
Fill the container with 6 gallons of lukewarm water
Dissolve 6 cups of non-ionized salt in the dye bath, taking care that all of the salt is in solution
Measure out 1 cup of soda ash and dissolve in hot water in one of the large yogurt containers, set aside
Put gloves on
Add 1 cup of lukewarm water to the second yogurt container, add the dye, and mix thoroughly making sure that there are no clumps
Add the dye water to the dye bath, taking care to stir constantly until all the dye is completely dissolved
Wring out your garment and add to the dye bath, leaving the water in the tub for rinsing
Stir with a wooden stick or your gloved hand constantly for 15-20 minutes to make sure that all garment surfaces are exposed to the dye.
Take the garment out of the dye bath and add soda ash taking care to dissolve the soda ash completely
Put your garment back into the dye bath and continue to agitate for 15-60 more minutes.
After 30-60 minutes in the dye bath, wring our your garment and rinse in the water used to soak it initially.
Continue to rinse until the water runs clear.
Hang your garment on the line to dry.

General recipe:

1 gallon water - 1 c of salt - 1/6 c soda ash - 1 Tbsp dye
Usually 3 gallons of water are used for 1 lb of dry fabric/garment

More garment dyeing resources:

http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/
jacquardproducts.com
ritdye.com
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing.shtml