Tuesday 19 January 2016

Dyeing in the Washing Machine

I like the bird motif on this T-shirt but whenever I went to wear it, the white seemed just too bright a white for my colouring and so it's hardly been worn and I vowed that one day I would over dye it with cream......and that day finally arrived at the weekend. 
I recently found myself in John Lewis, admiring fabric printed with this Lucienne Day motif but it also had a very bright white background and I had just persuaded myself not to buy it when a fellow shopper helpfully pointed out that it was only £1 per metre and as anyone else would do in these circumstances, I bought 3 metres and vowed to over dye it with cream. After all if it didn't work out, I'd hardly have lost a fortune. 
I dyed the T-shirt and fabric together in the washing machine, the method which gives the best chance of a smooth dyed finish, not a method I usually use as I'm usually hoping to bring textures into my dyeing but it worked perfectly and there weren't any blotches of dye to be seen. I'd definitely recommend the washing machine for this type of dyeing, better still buy fabric and T-shirts in colours you like! . 

PS the dyed fabrics are a much more creamy colour and less apricoty in reality but try as I might I haven't been able to capture the true colour on camera.