Dyeing Cotton

DragonflyKJ

Hello all,

I have some lovely 10ply cotton to make some shopping bags with, but it is all white. I would like to dye it up, but would love some hints and tips to do it please.

What do you use to dye your yarn?
What curing method do you use?
Is there a special way to dye it to ensure nice pooling?
Anything I should absolutely avoid?

Thanks in advance!
KJ xx

PatternSquirrel

I've dyed a bit of cotton. It's much more difficult than wool. You need to use a dye for cellulose fibres like Procion mx and the fixative is aLOT of salt and a pool chemical. If you are serious about it google is your friend. A more approachable dye is the sachets (eg dylon) that you can get at the supermarket. Those have clear instructions on the package and that method is much less expensive. To make sure your dyed yarn has uneven colour don't agitate it as much and put part of the skein into the bath earlier than the rest.

BlueTanager

Soaking a multiple ply yarn is a must. And I found out that for cotton it needs to be soaking for a much longer time than wool, for example.
I tend to soak only for a few minutes so basically even after letting the yarn sit in the dye bath for a few hours the center parts still carry the original color.

It is not too bad depending on the project and color as the white center with colored outer part gives it a bit of a "neon" vibe. But I find it much harder to get a more solid color.

MAMIYPEQUE

Hola! pues yo si que he teñido algodón (por videos en Youtube en español).

He usado tintes iberia (en España se pueden conseguir en cualquier droguería) y no despinta con los lavados (si utilizas el fijador que trae y sal). También he teñido con curcuma y tuve que añadir sal y vinagre, y tampoco despinta (y deja colores brillantes).

Me gusta experimentar con distintos tipos de hilado (animal y vegetal), diferentes tintes y métodos.

PatternSquirrel

You don't need to use heat with fibre reactive dyes. That's acid dyes (for proteins eg wool silk). The supermarket dyes like Dylon and rit are not as colourfast as procion dyes. To get ombré cloth you need to dip a little at a time starting at the tip with the lightest colour and adding more dye and dipping less fabric every time. GIYF

feathers

Thank you for a very informative thread. I have a question: do you dye the yarn, or the finished product?

I want to dye some cotton yarn I have, but it's on a cardboard tube. So do I need to make a ball of yarn and dye that, or can I just crochet the piece and dye that?

lesovichok07

I did not paint crochet thread. I paint a floss. I prefer natural dyes: tea, coffee, berries, herbs. Threads can be dyed by immersion in a color solution or boiled in a "brine". If you're interested, write a comment I'll try to explain.

brendah2

Yes I agree with fiber reactive dyes for cotton, or natural dye like coffee or tea. I heard black beans can give a purple color but it doesn't last.

claratejeteje

I think is not very easy to get a good result, because sometimes dye disappears after several washes..It is only my opinion...

E123

You can try indigo dyeing. Cotton takes up indigo very well and there are some cool techniques out there to get patterns.

NewTCCA

Definitely fiber reactive dyes - dyeing wool tends to be easier I think.

Purplenymph

Following

Mazie

try some Rit dye for cotton

Kemeken

Very nice

gamzesk

good luck!

ultimateduck13

Interesting, thanks!