Dye Your Own Fabric is a traditional craft

Dyeing fabric can seem intimidating, but it’s actually easier (and more fun) than you might think. Plus, it’s a grown-up version of the summer camp tie dye projects that you loved as a kid.

Before you begin, prewash your fabric in a mild detergent and hot water. This is called scouring and helps the fibers to absorb the dye more efficiently.

Wax Printing

Wax printing on dyed fabric is a traditional technique. In this process, molten wax is drawn on to the cloth using a pen-like tool called a canting. Then, the patterned cloth is soaked in a dye bath. The areas of the cloth without wax resist the dye, and when the cloth is rinsed, the coloured pattern shows through.

The patterns and colours on these fabrics reflect African culture, sayings, personalities and mod cons, as well as nature and animals. The motifs are intricate, and some women use them as a non-verbal way of communicating.

This is a traditional craft that has been somewhat mechanised, but its unique flair remains. The patterns are now designed digitally and printed by machines, but copper rollers etched with the design still apply the wax.

Perforated Printing

Adding perforations to printed materials gives them the functionality and practicality of being easily separated into multiple sections. This is especially useful for brochures and flyers that feature special offers or vouchers. It allows the customer to keep the rest of the publication while removing the perforated section.

This type of printing is done on precolored fabric or on dyed fabrics that have been overprinted using conventional pigment printing techniques. The specialized printing paste contains wetting agents and film-forming additives to help the dyes penetrate and coat individual yarns of the fabric.

The resulting print is transferred to the fabric by a large, padded drum fitted with a series of copper rollers with different colored dots etched on them. The printed fabric is then fed through an explosion-proof curing oven to set the dye.

Direct Dyeing

Direct dyes are soluble in water and have affinity for cellulosic fibres. They are commonly used to dye cotton, wool, leather, and paper textiles. They also find use as biological stains and pH indicators.

Their washing and light fastness properties are poor, but they can be improved significantly by after treatments. Unfortunately, the cationic dye fixatives needed to improve washfastness reduce lightfastness.

Dyeing is done by immersing the yarn or fabric in an aqueous dye bath under a specified procedure. The aqueous dyebath usually contains an electrolyte and the dye is then applied to the fabric by winching or jiggering. The dyeing process operates at a wide range of liquor-to-goods ratios: up to 30-40:1 for open vat dyeing; 20-30:1for beck dyeing; and 5-10:1for jet dyeing machines and padding applications.

Reactive Dyeing

Fiber reactive dyes chemically bond permanently to cellulose fibers like cotton, linen, silk and viscose rayon. They give beautiful color that is wash-fast.

Before dyeing, your fabric must be pre-washed to remove any soil, fabric finishes or sizing that could affect the way it absorbs dye. Also, remove any stains as these will affect the color.

The fabric is soaked in the dye solution for 30 minutes or longer depending on the desired shade of color. Urea is added to help with the reaction. Then the liquor ratio is adjusted to achieve the required shade of color. The urea causes the reaction with the hydroxyl groups on fibre which makes them hydrolyzed to a lesser degree. This hydrolyzed dye cannot react further with water under alkaline condition and is retained on the fibre by affinity forces. Finally the excess dye is removed by washing the material with hot, cold and soap solutions.

Cold Water Dyeing

Using fiber reactive dyes you can get a lot of different colors on any kind of fabric. They work great for tie dyeing and shibori as well as hand painting, vat dyeing and screen printing.

First, prewash your fabric in warm water to get rid of any finishes that might interfere with dye absorption. This will also help the dye set up faster.

Fill a large tub with the amount of water called for on your dye package. Add a sachet or powder dye and stir until it’s dissolved. Then add the soda ash solution and soak fabric for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes is up wring out excess and save the soda ash solution for another dyeing project. Rinse in cold water and wash with a gentle detergent.