Dyeing failure

[mstra_margarita]

I scored a bunch of wool at Joann's last week ($2.50/yd - bought all I could find; so much for NY's resolutions!) in various colors, including tan.  Since I will be MoLing at Ymir, I want a Viking coat to keep me toasty.  The tan didn't inspire me on its own, plus was a fairly loose weave.  It looked like it would be a good bet for washing to full

Comments

[splagxna]

you could get some of those middle eastern coins and sew them all over it. that might also count as armor in case a few fighters get overenthusiastic.

or perhaps strips of colored duct tape? i hear it comes in glow-in-the-dark shades now.

or cut it so that you show so much cleavage, no one will even LOOK at the coat.

(unfortunately, i cannot think of anything particularly creative in this case. i tend to just go with the 'embroider embroider embroider' idea and ymir is awfully soon....)

[thalionar]

oooh... I'm pretty sure that Dylon isn't for wool, only for plant fibers :( :( :(

You may want to see about getting a small jar of procion acid dye and white vinegar from dharma trading. I don't know if you want to wait that long, though, and I don't know of anywhere local that sells it. AC More sells the jaquard, but not the jaquard acid :(

[mstra_margarita]

I think it said wool on the package. I didn't use Rit, which I have had good success with on other things, because it didn't list wool as being a suitable fabric.

I think there may have been a finish on it that didn't wash out. The packages did say that it wasn't reliable on fabric/clothes that have to be dry cleaned. Next time I'll look more closely at the label. I saw the 100% wool and the price and stopped there.

[thalionar]

hrm. it does say that it can be used to dye wool (went and dug out a package from my stash), but... the Dylon website suggests using the hottest water possible (which, I don't know if you did or not) and, knowing the way wool dyes, I probably would have added some vinegar to it. But you're probably right, there's probably a finish of some sort :(

[ladyhelwynn]

You are probably right about the fabric having some sort of finish on it. Wool generally dyes pretty well and to not have picked up any dye from the dye bath must mean that there is something protecting the fabric. :(

Any cool trim you can use on the coat? At least it should be warm and weatherproof. :)

Sorry the dye didn't work out. :(

[fiberferret]

I just had the same thing happen with a tan/cream herringbone wool that I wanted to make green. And yes, it is now an even more unattractive color! What I'm going to do is use some thin green wool that I have to do a 1 2/2 - 2 inch border around the coat (which will hopefully get embroidered someday)

[mstra_margarita]

What kind of dye did you use?

[fiberferret]

I used Rit, I've had success in the past with it on wool (really deep colors in the washing machine) so I was surprised at how little it worked. I had assumed that if the wool successfully felted that all coating would be gone. Guess I was wrong.

[redsquirrel]

Salt is for when you are dyeing plant fibers - cotton, linen, ramie, etc. For protein fibers - wool and silk - you want to add acid to your dye bath. Use a few cups of white vinegar to help it take. I'm surprised that the Dylon package didn't say that.

[redsquirrel]

Also, are you sure it's pure wool? I got some nice coating wool down here at Joann's on clearance at that price, but it was part nylon.

As for detracting from the color - trim! Trim, trim, trim! Lots 'n lots of of stripies. Whip stitch down big fat strands of bright colored yarn with contrasting colored embroidery floss or tapestry wool. Zig-zag strips of colored ribbons between that. Clear out your remnant bag! You put enough different colors of stripes, guarantee no-one's going to notice the tan background.