Dyeing - Rinsing out the fabric
Time to finish up my post on dyeing fabric.
First, to tie it all together here are links to the previous posts:
- An overview of my dyeing process
- Information on the fabric I use
- Information on the dye and other chemicals I use and more on the process
After getting the dye solutions into the fabric I let my fabric cure over night. I find I get my best results if the first few hours the fabric is in the sun (okay in this picture the sun is actually behind a cloud - but you get the idea):
I believe the required temperature is 70 degrees (F) but I think pushing 90 or 100 results in deeper colors. Which means I do most of my dyeing during the summer as my house rarely gets near 70 in the winter. Although we have excellent sun in Colorado so if I time it well I can set my fabric in the sun in my laundry room and it will get warm enough.
I let the fabric cure over night. Technically it only needs to cure a few hours before washing and on a few occasions I have dyed large pieces for quilt backs and washed it this quickly and it was fine. But I am paranoid and I prefer to let it sit overnight, just in case. I’ve let it sit several days and once I found a piece that had been curing in my basement for months and it all washes out fine.
This is my laundry room:
I start filling up my washing machine with cold water.
I take the bins of fabric and set them in the sink the left of the washing machine and lift each yard of fabric out of the bin and put them into the washer one at a time - I might squeeze a bit of water out first but I don’t worry about it much.
I used to get all stressed and do a bunch of hand rinsing before dumping it into the washing machine but this takes much too long and made no practical difference from what I could tell.
I do the first wash on cold - no soap or chemicals. This removes 1 part of the equation for the chemical bonding to occur - heat. So there is little to no color transfer from one fabric to another. If there is I don’t worry, it just adds a bit of interest to the fabric or I can cut that chunk off. I spill more colors onto each other during the dyeing process than is transfered during washing. Some people put in synthrapol here and I probably used to but I don’t see much difference if I don’t.
After this first wash most of the soda ash is also gone. So it is unlikely that any more bonding will take place. Now the goal is to get all of the excess dye molecules off the fabric (and any lingering soda ash and salt). I figure leaving excess chemicals on the fabric can’t be a good thing in the long run.
So I do 2 long washes in hot hot water (I turn my water heater to maximum heat before rinsing my fabric and make sure it has fully reheated before doing another load).
In the first hot wash I put in a bit of synthrapol - a detergent that is supposedly great at bonding to the lose dye molecules so it can be rinsed away (you can read the details of how this works here).
In the second hot wash I put in regular laundry detergent (I used Tide Free).
I check the water after this second wash and if it runs clear (95% of the time it does) I consider it done. If not I will do a 3rd hot wash.
After washing I transfer it all to the dryer and dry for about 20-30 minutes, until it is just barely damp.
From there it all gets ironed flat and folded to fit into my fabric bins. A few years back I splurged and bought the nice closet storage stuff from the Container store - I want one more unit - maybe that will be my Christmas present to myself this year:
This is the last batch of fabric I dyed a week ago:
In one of my previous dye posts I showed this bin of fabric with one of the colors I mixed:
This is the resulting fabric:
I love ironing the new fabric after I’ve just dyed it. It takes a while but I get so many great ideas for quilts during this process. Seeing all those yummy new colors and thinking about designs and color combinations. It’s not a process to rush and something I do look forward to.
On a very serious note, I would be most remiss if i did not mention how dangerous these dyes are. When in their powder form they are extremely toxic and a mask must be worn when handling them. Gloves should be worn at all times to reduce exposure to the liquid dyes also. Don’t dye in your kitchen, don’t eat the dye. Don’t feed it to your cat, etc. Just be safe, read the manufacturer’s warnings, etc, etc.
One thing to be aware of is that if you spill any liquid dye and don’t wipe it up, the water will evaporate leaving just the dye powder (they dye in it’s most toxic state) behind. So I am careful to wipe up spills when done.
But this is dye I’m wiping up and I hate to see it go to waste. So I wipe up my spills with a piece of fabric, which I then wash with all the other fabrics and the result is usually fairly interesting:
These pieces were used to wipe up spills through 3 or 4 different dyeing sessions (they are pretty boring after just one). I don’t have much use for these fabrics since I use only solids but I do this anyway. I have used a few on the backs of my quilts and that’s fun.
If you have any questions about dyeing just leave them in the comments and I’ll try to answer them.
Posted by Lisa in: Quilting Process
joyce said,
November 28, 2006 @ 10:11 am
Thanks for the very informative posts on dyeing. I have done some but not on the scale that you do. Also thanks fro the warning about the powdered dyes. I am going out to the studio and wipe up any neglected spills. Do you know what the symptoms are after ingesting the dyes?
Patty Altier said,
November 28, 2006 @ 10:50 am
Thank you for your washing procdures. I will try washing with cold first - maybe that will help with blue fabric. I have the hardest time getting all the loose dye out of blue more than any other color.
Mechelle said,
November 28, 2006 @ 11:10 am
Love the idea of fabric for a dye wipe up rag - This will put and end to my crazy colored old towels that seem to keep growing in numbers!!
Tracy said,
November 28, 2006 @ 11:23 am
Lisa, this has been a very interesting series of posts. It’s been fascinating to see your process of dyeing fabric. And it looks like a ton of work, making me thankful that I never really took to textiles in art school!!!
Julie said,
November 28, 2006 @ 1:35 pm
Lisa, I found your articles at just the right time! Being the adventurous types. My husband and I took a quilting class together this fall. While looking at fabric and mulling over ideas, we decided we wanted to make a quilt using hand dyed fabric. We bought a bolt of white cotton flannel to dye and use for a rag quilt . We live in Alaska, so it’s never really all that warm (even in the sun) so we will be using the garage in December to do the dying. Up here most garages are heated, so I guess we will pull out the car and turn up the heat for a day (and nite?) to set the dye. My only concern is if the same amounts of dye will work for the flannel or do we need to use a stronger concentration? Thanks for being so generous with your knowledge and experience. Julie
Lisa Call said,
November 28, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
Joyce - here is one website with info about the dyes: http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/eating.shtml
"It is likely that consuming significant amounts of some of the Procion MX dyes would increase one’s risk of cancer, just as with a number of colorings that were formerly allowed to be used in foods, but later found to be mildly carcinogenic and thus banned for this use."
While she discusses the risk of allergic reaction to the dye powders, I also believe there is probably a similar risk of cancer if you come into extensive contact with it in this form also.
I’m not so paranoid that I won’t dye but I am careful and I won’t sell hand dyed fabrics as I don’t think the added exposure is worth the risk (plus it is just too darn much work).
Lisa Call said,
November 28, 2006 @ 1:51 pm
Patty - yes - blue is my problem also. Some people recommend soaking the fabric in cold water overnight to get it to rinse out better. I’ve never tried this but might be worth giving it a shot if you have a whole bunch of blue - put in the washing machine with cold water - agitate for a while with synthrapol - and let soak for a while.
Mechelle - I have a stack of those colored towels also - I wipe the floor up with them - they do seem to multiply.
Tracy - wise choice. It is a ton of work - but it’s fun also!
Julie - I’d only worry about the temperature for the first few hours - maybe 4. After that the process is probably pretty much done. These dyes only bond to natural fibers - so if you flannel is 100% cotton you are good to go and I suspect it will take about the same amount of dye. You could do a few sample yards and see if you like the results before diving into all of it. Let us know how it goes!
Claire said,
November 28, 2006 @ 1:57 pm
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for sharing your process, it is great to see how others do it. I have been using time delay to get gradations, although I find that the later fabrics tend to blue as the red reacts fastest. I have also been doing some dipping and wringing lately to get very solid colours.
I also like your fabric storage bins. I need to invest in something like that, as my current system is a bit of disaster.
Cheers
Claire
Lesly said,
November 29, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
Wonderfully interesting to read about your process. Plus the photos are a real bonus and make it so real. I will be able to picture you doing all this now … and wonder at how dedicated you are to do it! It would drive me nuts. But I guess its an integral part of how you make your lovely art.
Cathy Wilson said,
December 6, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
Hi
I have been working on dyeing for quite a while and your information on bulk dyeing and also on rinsing are new to me, fresh, wonderful, useful, hurray! Thank you for these! I’m going home tonight after school (I am an art teacher) and dyeing some fabric. :)
Cathy
Lisa Call said,
December 6, 2006 @ 4:04 pm
Thanks Cathy - glad to inspire you!