dyEing pants (so you know I'm not killing them)

[twouglyducks]

I have some really nice white french terry. I want to make capris for me but I have 2 little boys so white isn't a real option. Ya know?
I want to tie dye them, but can't really decide what type of pattern would look best on pants. I thought of doing the big, diagonal "stripes" but then realized that would mean big, diagonal stripes on my butt... It doesn't really need any emphasize (sp? pamela??)... So, any ideas???

[Colorful~Mama]

i'm wearing a pair of tiedye capris right now
i did them immersion dyed tho. cerulean blue that i watered down a bit, so it kinda looks like clouds.
just another thought

[ma2maya]

I agree w/ colorful mama. Immersion dying is great especially for getting unplanned for patterning and blending of colors.

BTW Colorful Mama I am down here is Tucson. We should get together and have a party to "dye" for (sorry, couldn't resist!)

Good Luck with the capris!
Kathy

[girlfactory]

Why not do a dip dye kinda thing; where you lay the pants out on newspaper or something like that, and just use a squirt bottle and do stripey things. Not like straight lines, but you know how the dip-dyed variegated stuff in RTW looks? Something like that.........

[twouglyducks]

What is immersion dyeing? Just doing the sort of solid???
And the squirting them/dip dye sounds fun... I may end up with a couple of pairs of capris.

[ma2maya]

Don't know if you are familiar with fabric dying or not but I will asume you know some(for arguements sake!) Anyways...immersion dying is using a small amount of water relative to the amount you would use if you were doing vat dying. You scrunch the fabric into a container big enough to hold it and the water required( i.e. a large yogurt contianer) Then you pour your dye solution into the container with the fabric. With this method you can use more than one color. Depending on how much you manipulate the fabric while it is in the dye, you get really interesting patternings and blendings of color.

I also use this method to get solid colors too. Just have to be more attentive to rearranging the fabric frequently so it dyes fairly evenly.

Check out these sites for some insight on immersion dying and other good stuff. http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/lowwaterimmersion.shtml (has info on different techniques)

http://www.prochemical.com/direction...rImmersion.htm
Enjoy!
Kathy

[twouglyducks]

Oh... that looks pretty cool!! Not sure if I'm talented (or patient) enough for that though... May have to try and see. Thanks for the links.

Originally Posted by ma2maya

Don't know if you are familiar with fabric dying or not but I will asume you know some(for arguements sake!) Anyways...immersion dying is using a small amount of water relative to the amount you would use if you were doing vat dying. You scrunch the fabric into a container big enough to hold it and the water required( i.e. a large yogurt contianer) Then you pour your dye solution into the container with the fabric. With this method you can use more than one color. Depending on how much you manipulate the fabric while it is in the dye, you get really interesting patternings and blendings of color.

I also use this method to get solid colors too. Just have to be more attentive to rearranging the fabric frequently so it dyes fairly evenly.

Check out these sites for some insight on immersion dying and other good stuff. http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/lowwaterimmersion.shtml (has info on different techniques)

http://www.prochemical.com/direction...rImmersion.htm
Enjoy!
Kathy

[ma2maya]

Originally Posted by twouglyducks

Oh... that looks pretty cool!! Not sure if I'm talented (or patient) enough for that though... May have to try and see. Thanks for the links.

Actually, immersion dyeing is pretty un-labor intensive( or is it labor unintensive...oh well!) Mix the dyes, wet and scrunch the item into the container, pour the dye(s), wait a few minutes, pour the soda ash solution in, let em' sit til you remember that you were doing a project with your capris, rinse/ wash, look good wearing them!

You could do a practice run with an old piece of cotton fabric. Also, I rinse/wash my silks in the washer. Use hot h20, stop cycle before it gets to rinse, reset the wash, and then let it run all the way through. You can do it again if you think it needs it. An initial wash in hot helps to completely exhaust the dye, you can let the cycle end on cold if you want, no biggie.

BTW-Though I vary it a bit from time to time I use Prochemicals directions/guidelines for low immersion dyeing.

Have Fun!

[twouglyducks]

Originally Posted by ma2maya

Actually, immersion dyeing is pretty un-labor intensive( or is it labor unintensive...oh well!) Mix the dyes, wet and scrunch the item into the container, pour the dye(s), wait a few minutes, pour the soda ash solution in, let em' sit til you remember that you were doing a project with your capris, rinse/ wash, look good wearing them!

Have Fun!

Well, you made it sound a lot easier than the instuctions... Okay, i'll admit...
I just glanced at the directions, got a headache (maybe from the 2 kids yelling "MOM!..." and having no sleep?), bookmarked and closed it. LOL But I do want to try it. Thanks.