August 27, 2012

Dyeing with Dylon



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So, my college pants right, they've become terribly faded after only a year. At RM75 for a new one, I'd rather find an alternative to overcome the problem. In fact there's only one alternative: Dyeing.


So I came across this fabric dye from Dylon:

 small isnt it?


and decided to give it a try. The result........






Not bad eh? If you can see the difference. Trust me its there but maybe the camera doesnt really pick it up that clearly.



So, how do we go about dyeing?

These instructions only apply to Dylon Multi Purpose Dye, as what I have used and as shown above. Dylon has other types of dyes and have different methods which you can find at http://www.dylon.co.uk/products.php.


1. Wash clothing item thoroughly and leave it damp.

2. Get a rust-proof, metal container and fill with enough water to cover your item. Make sure its big enough for easy movement, like say, stirring. Large items like my pants required a seriously huge pot.

3. For each tin of dye, boil 500ml of water and add the dye. Stir well. ATTENTION: Pour the powder VERY SLOWLY. Pouring it too fast will cause the water to suddenly and intensely bubble up. In fact pouring it slowly will still cause some reaction. It's best your pot be larger to prevent the water from spilling over as it bubbles.

4. Now heat up your first container of water. Add 30g of salt for each tin you use. Then add your dye mixture which you boiled earlier. For my pants, I used 1.5 tins of dye and 50g of salt. Keep an eye on your container while you're heating it up. I left it on max flame for a while and suddenly the whole pot bubbled and spilled over.

FYI: The salt lets your item absorb the dye better

5. Now comes the hard part. Let your container of dye reach simmering (aka just below boiling) point and put in your item. Stir it, toss it,  for 20 minutes. Seeing how big my pants and pot were, it was really hot and difficult.

6. Rinse your item until the water is clear. Admittedly, I didnt rinse it THAT thoroughly.  Dry item away from direct heat and sunlight.


Now, some important things to take note of:

The dye will not work on synthetic materials except nylon.

The dye will come off in the wash so be sure to wash dyed clothes separately and turned inside out.

Wear gloves. Dye will stay permanently on skin if not washed off immediately.

It's advised to wear older clothes or clothes with the same colour as the dye just incase it splashes onto you.

Patterns will not be entirely covered, but the colour may change.

Colour mixing rules apply, e.g blue dye + red shirt = purple result

One little tin of this dye is good for 250g of clothing. A shirt perhaps.

Clothes with special finishes e.g 'dry clean only' will not be dyed.



Special Instructions for Wool and silk:

Follow steps for 1 to 4 above.

5. Put in clean, damp, unfolded article. Bring slowly to a simmer and reduce heat at once. Stir gently for 10 minutes.

6. Remove article from dye and allow to cool before rinsing in lukewarm water, until water runs clear.


Happy dyeing~ :)

2 comments:

  1. Hi there! May i know where u got the dylon dye from?

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    Replies
    1. Hello Rachel! You can get these dyes from fabric / arts & crafts / DIY stores. They might have phased out the small tins with larger packets and different instructions now, but otherwise Dylon should still be fairl available here. :)

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