Dyepot Weekly

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

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[@No_Manufacturer]

When I was at school, because we met every other day, our fabrics (cotton and silk) would sit in our buckets for close to 48 hours and my colors were pretty saturated. I use at least a quarter cup of soda ash in my water (pre-soak, and then I add dye to that). Cotton is an exercise in patience for sure, and a great example of passive dyeing.

[@kathleensheldrake1053]

Raven is my favorite black for ice dyeing because it breaks so beautifully. Also, I use skeins of embroidery floss to test what my approximate color will be when mixing my own colors.

[@breezyKF]

This thread would make a super cool weaving project!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Ooo yes!

[@kaytiej8311]

I always learn so much from you and from the comments. This channel is such a resource! Wonderful.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm so glad these videos are helpful!

[@dieSterbendeGiraffe]

That yarn turned out sooo pretty!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you!

[@quiltnana116]

First, that looked like a normal amount of bleeding for a dark color. Second, fiber reactives need to batch- I leave my fabric for 24 hours. So you mighthave liked the red better if you’d left it to batch before adding the black. I have never heated fiber reactive dyes in a pit like acid dyes, so not sure what that would do. Your washout does not need to be so much work! Always soak your fabric/yarn in cold water- you don’t want to activate the soda ash, it can cause bavkstaining. I gave up’rinsing til clear years ago. Soak, then I boil my fabric with synthrapol for 20 minutes. If it’s a dark color, I’ll boil it twice, the second with a Colorcatcher. Doing it this way, I have cut way down on the amount of water I use for washout, not to mention the amount of work. Where I live, conserving water is a real consideration. Fiber reactives will never be as quick as acid dyes. When I do fabric, it’s a two day process.

[@kristalburns3490]

Ok after seeing how you did this and my experience in tie dye. I would have done this all over heat. The red dyeing do it in your pan and heat it to just at a simmer. Then pull the yarn and put your black in and yarn and turn off the heat and walk away to let cool. You will still have a lot of bleed off in the rinse but your dyes will remain vibrant. I noticed when I heated the shirts I tie dyed they remained more vibrant than if I skipped that step. I also think they call it thread because you can sew with it where yarn isnt spun as tight so not so easy to sew with.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you for these tips! I had some advice to avoid heat, and I was trying some different instructions that I had found. I think I need to try more dye (not more than this time, but more than I had used in the past) + heat.

[@bethtuten9378]

Cotton!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

YES!

[@amandapatterson2974]

this yarn is so pretty!!!!

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thank you! 😊

[@catmumcrafts]

I'm new to dyeing but I love that twisted resist idea

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks! I love this type of technique. I haven't done it with cotton much though

[@SarahPepperfur]

I hate dealing with washing cotton so the advice that I have for you is that a couple extra butterfly ties (which you can put on after dyeing), sweater bags, and a washing machine work wonders. Use cold water and you can use dish soap in the washer, but not as much volume of it as you would use laundry detergent. IIRC though, I may have once used detergent with some really obnoxious blue. I think that it was Procion and soda ash.

[@cindyfrye3026]

It looks like you made the red and black snakes that some are not and some are poisonous, hahah. I hope you got the non-poisonous ones.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

LOL!

[@bjchadwick4261]

The bleeding is mostly just what fiber reactive dyes do. But you should let a color sit a minimum of 4 hours. 24 is better.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Whatever I read this time that had me let it sit for so short felt unnatural! I'm not sure if I linked or showed the instructions I was following in the video, but I'll go for a red again at some point but wait more time.

[@bethtuten9378]

As long as it's just cellulose fiber, my experience has been that you can use too little soda ash, but there's no such thing as too much soda ash, in terms of damaging the fiber. You can absolutely reuse the soda ash water.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Thanks!

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

I think something like this only maybe the first colour as a teal then the black twisted resist would be gorgeous. I think when I get into fibre reactive dyes other than RIT (not UV stable or fade resistant but at least so far have not been bad for bleeding for me), I'll be leaving the dye overnight before proceeding to the next step. Will also leave it longer next time I do a tie dye run too, though honestly I've gotten pretty good colours after like an hour with the powdered dyes you mix with water right before you do the dyeing.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I agree I should have left it longer.

[@leahgroess5361]

I definitely think you should have let the red sit longer. I'm pretty impressed at how well the black struck though! It's definitely a hard call to make about the amount of dye to use because the only way to definitely get a dark, saturated color is to have excess dye that needs a ton of rinsing. One thing I'm curious about natural fiber dyeing is the difference between a soda ash pre-soak vs soda ash in the dye bath. Is one better? Does it vary for the different dye types (like a pre-soak for natural dyes and in the dye bath for fiber reactive dyes)? The yarn vs thread is also really interesting and I think I've only ever seen cotton labeled "thread" at thinner gauges that would otherwise be considered fingering or lace weight.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I think that if you're going to immersion dye like this - you want the soda ash in the dyebath so that the pH stays high. if you're going to hand paint (add the dye onto the item itself) then you can do a presoak. At least this is what my gut says.

[@juliamason8393]

Today is my little sister's birthday. My birthday was this past Saturday. There is 15 years between us. She was born 3 days after I turned 15.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Happy belated birthday!

[@louisalowry6229]

Fibre reactive dyes do bleed a lot. And too much soda ash is never enough 😂. I used to dye a lot of my own quilting fabrics and red is one of the worst to bleed.

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

Yeah the laundry horror stories are always one red sock in the whites, I''ve noticed even magic marker reds tend to be the most migratory...

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I'm lucky that the only laundry stain issues I've ever had were from my washing machine itself. (Ugh. I had to replace the whole thing!)

[@bethtuten9378]

That amount of bleeding is normal for fiber reactive. Personally, I would have let the red set for 24 hours before adding the black.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I wish that I did. That is what my gut would have said. but wherever I looked up how much dye to use for what I was attempting here said to do the shorter timeframe. I edited this a while ago so I don't remember where I found that. (Dharma? Another random blog?)

[@felicitycrowe6971]

Would more soda ash and/or more salt have helped more of the dye bond to the yarn???

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I don't think so, I think I had enough.. but I can't say for sure.

[@airenesmiler6624]

I'm sitting here at -15C and you are talking about 90F. I'm not sure I'd prefer the 90!

[@jodrichy]

Hello my fellow Canadian. I am assuming lol

[@airenesmiler6624]

@@jodrichy Of course. Winter arrived yesterday for sure.

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

It's been weird in Eastern Ontario, I think maybe we got our first frost last night but supposed to be back up to +19C tomorrow...

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Oh man, I miss summer right now. It's not even that cold in MA yet - we haven't hit freezing.

[@cindyfrye3026]

I think thread is made with a different spinning method it is not plied like yarn. It would take some investigation to find out the exact difference.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I really should know the difference.

[@catlady743]

That's a crazy amount of bleeding. How long were you washing it before it ran clear?

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Fiber reactive dyes will do that - there is no way to dye cotton without some bleeding in the end. I didn't time the washing because sometimes I walked away and then came back. So it was a lot but not the ABSOLUTE worst ever.

[@JADufault21]

This is when a dowel is needed to hold the balls of thread.

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

Very much, yes. I should have rigged something up.

[@Pnwmommaof3]

I think you just used too much dye. And it would help to let the red sit longer

[@ChemKnitsTutorials]

I also feel like I didn't use enough, lol. I was following some instructions that had it sit for so short. I'll try this again and use some heat to help the red set.

[@Pnwmommaof3]

Even if the red wasn’t what you hoped, it turned out beautifully!