best way of dying??

[korjuen]

i have a question I like to know if dying a crochet item work as well as dying the yarn alone before making something out of it. I have this yarn of a color that i am not so pleased with but the yarn is a good quality cotten and want to CHANGE it's color

 

thanks

kor

[caseysmom57]

LOL I thought at first you were asking about the best way to die?

[natalie058]

LOL I thought at first you were asking about the best way to die?

 

Er, technically she is. Coloring anything with dye is the act of "dyeing" whereas becoming deceased is "dying." But that's just the English nut in me, sorry.

 

Anyways, to offer my thoughts on the question - I think that dyeing the finished object is possible, [and is often a good idea if the project is large] because you can avoid "dye lot" issues that might come from dyeing the yarn itself.

 

Since your object is cotton, I would suggest following the directions on a box of RIT or other similar dye, since dyes meant for food will not set in plant fibres.

[losingmymind2]

Thank you, I was wondering the same thing. I might want to try dyeing a finished object, since I want to make my mother a wool shawl that will take more than one skein, and want all the color to be uniform. I still plan to use either koolaid or food coloring, since it is wool.

 

And the best way to die? Looking at a huge pile of finished projects and realizing you have not one scrap of yarn left in your stash!

[natalie058]

I want to make my mother a wool shawl that will take more than one skein, and want all the color to be uniform. I still plan to use either koolaid or food coloring, since it is wool.

 

I'm actually trying this right now - I'm making a shawl from some natural colored wool I got off eBay, and when it's finished I hope to dye it. I haven't decided which would be best, the kettle method or the microwave method. Any thoughts?

 

I read through some old threads awhile back that mentioned submersing your object could result in darker shades for the spots that hit the dye first, so I was thinking I could use that to my advantage - but - using the microwave method will let me use more than one color...

[jenhen]

If you're dyeing cotton you're better off with a fiber-reactive dye like Procion. I get them from www.dharmatrading.com . They carry dyes for all fibers and have lots of information on different methods of dyeing. RIT dye gives a less intense color and tends to fade. It contains a little bit of many types of dyes (for plant fibers, animal fibers, man-made fibers) so it will color all types of items, but not as well.