Fabric Dyeing Progress Report

Fabric soaking in soda ash solution. A bucket of possibilities!

Played around with dyeing some fabric this afternoon.  Here’s a bunch of fabric soaking in the soda ash solution.  The white is the cotton I bought yesterday.  The tannish is some printed white cotton I had on hand.  I’m not much for using white, so it’s been sitting in my stash for several years.  Not any more!

Dyed fabric curing in zip-lock bags

The second photo shows a (hopefully) lime green and a bright blue.  They’re curing in zip bags, per the instructions at Fabric Dyeing 101 for dyeing solid-colored fabrics.

Fabric curing in cups. Cramming it into a cup causes a more mottled appearance.

The third picture is four pieces in cups.  The only one you can see is the yellow.  There is a blue-green, a berry red, and I think a dark purple (can’t remember!), along with the yellow.  The berry red is a piece of the printed fabric.  I’m curious to see how it turns out!

I plan to use the yellow piece to play around with making batik using gel glue.  Or I may try stitching a resist and overdyeing it.   I dyed it pale yellow so I could play around with it.  Just need to find some gel glue.  I expect they’ll have it at Target.

It’s a bit chilly in the basement, so I may let it cure for longer than the recommended 24 hours.  I’d bring it upstairs where it’s warmer, but my Molly Cat LOVES plastic bags.  If I’m silly enough to leave one where she can get at it, she drags it all over the house, after killing it thoroughly.  Better to leave my dye project in the basement where it’s safe from predatory kitties.

Dyeing fabric is so much fun that I may overdye some boring or outdated prints in my stash, and give them a new lease on life!