I haven’t been sewing much this month, and when I go a sewing slump like that, though, I always like to ease myself back in with an easy project. Instead of just going on Pinterest and wasting my time there I decided to do a project I already had the idea and supplies. Enter this t-shirt I was planning on dyeing but never did because the dye package was for three shirts but I only had one. I went through my scrap container taking out any white pieces I thought would work. Then I dyed them. It was my first time and went smooth. I could post how to dye something, but the package instruction was excellent. Instead here are the three dyeing mistakes I made and how to avoid them
Wear Sturdy Gloves
The first mistake I made is fairly obvious; instead of gloves, I used a plastic bag. We didn’t have any gloves in the house and to go and buy some seem like a waste of time and money. Well, you could probably guess my bag leak and my hand got dyed along with the clothes. So when you dye, please invest in rubber gloves that you could reuse.(On a related note make sure you wear old clothes when dying; so you won’t accidentally spill dye on them.)
Fabric content and Color
The t-shirt I planned on dyeing was 100% cotton and absorb the dye well. The only issue I have with it is because of the colour it was originally it didn’t get as bright as I wanted it too. My scrap fabric that I threw in absorb the dye differently; some are a beautiful bright colour and others are barely tinted. When you dye something, look at the colour it is now and be realistic about what colours you can get. If you can try to figure out the fabric content is; it a bit disappointing to throw a white thing in and have it come out of a red dye bath a pale pink.
What Colour you Want
There is some variable that will affect the colour of your dyed item; the fabric content and colour and how long it is in the dye bath. So how long do you keep it in the bath? Well, that depends on the colour you want and how bright it would be. None of the items from my red dye bath came out red, they all were various shades of pink. What should I have done differently? Next time I would keep it in longer or do it on the stove. Also, I forgot to take into account items tend to look darker wet than they do dry.
So now you heard my dyeing mistakes I would like to hear yours? Have you ever dyed? Share in the comments below