Fabric and Trim Dyeing

Just before Christmas I needed to pot dye a mundane shirt. I had some over-bright braid and trim that I thought I would throw in too. The gold braid seemed to be mostly cotton, but I was pretty sure that the lace and ric-rac braid were predominantly polyester.

The trim pre-dye

 

I dyed the shirt and the braids in a pot on the stove for about twenty minutes. I used some left over liquid dye (brown) and some powder dye in navy. The resulting colour was an aubergine brown. I rinsed the braid and shirt until the water ran clear.

 

 

The trim after dyeing

 

 

Although the result on the poly-blend braids is very subtle, I am happy with the result and much more likely to use the trim on garb now.

Trim dyeing

This week I decided to try and dye some trim that I had in my stash.

I wasn't sure of the fibre content of the trim; I suspected a poly-cotton blend.

I realised that I was not likely to use it in it's pink form, so I pot dyed it with some Rit cold water dye (brown), salt and a little laundry detergent.

I stirred for 30 minutes while the dye liquid simmered. I rinsed, following the dye packet instructions, and waited anxiously to see how it would turn out when dry.

And I was delighted with the result! Now I have too many fabrics that I can use it on!