Saturday, October 13, 2012

Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Dye Hard


My mother sent me a knit vest in one of my care packages. I hated the color, but luckily she had also sent along 3 packs of old Rit powder dye in black.

I'd like to start off by saying I'm sorry.
The reason for that is because I completely forgot to take a before picture, and I realized it as I put it in a vat of dye. The picture shown is after its first bath in black dye. It used to be a powder blue... I did take a "during" shot, though
Doesn't really make up for before shots...
As you can see in the first photo (gross quality), it came out a faded black/ dark grey.
I deduced that perhaps it was because 1.) I forgot to add vinegar during the simmering process and 2.) I only let it sit for about 15 mins before rinsing.

Currently it is drying from a second bath which included vinegar and more time...
So tomorrow, I'll probably put it in a third, maybe a fourth bath. I tried boiling it to felt it the first time round-- didn't really felt all that great.

I'll be adding lace trims to it, so by the next CCC post I'll show it in all its complete glory

When I've blackened it sufficiently, I wanted to replace its buttons with something better, currently they're a milky pearlescent. I'm just not sure what I'll replace them with yet...


8 comments:

  1. What a great mum, a vest and black dye! :) My mum would have had a fit if I dyed something she gave me black! ha ha.

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  2. I think she's used to it by now though. I would like to dye some things crimson sometime, but I am afraid of what it might do to my overly sensitive skin. I can't even wear wool!

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    1. That's too bad, maybe try dying an article of clothes you wouldn't mind giving away if you ended up having an allergic reaction?

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  3. Wow, your dye pot looks so much nicer than mine! I always have good luck dyeing with added salt instead of vinegar, but then I've never dyed anything wool before - only felted it. I'll be excited to see your end result!

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    1. P.S. I really love the new look for your blog!

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    2. Thank you =)

      I hear that in order to seal color in with wool you must use vinegar; I haven't really dyed wool to change color, just to darken it.
      I also use salt for other fibers.

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  4. I love how your mom sent you something coloured and included black dye with it! Your mom is very on the ball.

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    Replies
    1. She and I share the same taste in clothing; she looks at clothing with my same eye. I miss going shopping with her, because I know I can depend on a completely accurate opinion lol

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