Secret Tie-Dye Tip

Wanted to share a tip about rinsing your dyed warp chains, t-shirts, what-ever..... using the Fiber Reactive Dye for cotton, silk, Tencel, bamboo....(not wool).

After I have dyed the articles- Here I have some cotton hankies and some more of the cotton t-shirts that turned out to be too small for grandson, and a couple of adult t-shirts.

I let them dry in the sun (if possible) or in the basement if it is raining. Sometimes I don't even wait until everything is dry. I do TRY to make myself wait at least a couple of hours before I am ready to remove the rubber bands and rinse. But instead of taking to the sink and rinsing and rinsing and rinsing, I have a secret method.

Now here is the tip I wanted to share. I fill my bucket with water and 'Synthrapol' and then put in as much as I can of the items - at the same time - and let that sit overnight. And the next morning I pour off the liquid, and rinse by hand in the sink. There is very little dye left in the fibers. So there is only one or maybe two rinse cycles. Try this the next time you dye a warp chain. You will spend a lot less time rinsing out the left-over dye.

 

 

Throw in the washer and dryer or dry out side. Either way, your dye is set and you have spent less time rinsing out the excess dye.