My advice is:
Always wash the clothes in 100% cold water, and
If they are cotton or linen or rayon, in other words 100% cellulose
fiber, re-dye them black using Procion MX dye from someplace like Dharma
Trading (www.dharmatrading.com), following the directions given. Except,
for washer dyeing in my washer (it holds 15 or 16 gallons) I have found
that I need precisely twice as much dye as the amount stated, which
seems to be calculated for vat dyeing. The quantity of water used really
does count, even if the directions only mention the weight of the fabric
to be dyed.
Rit is a less fast dye than Procion and, IMO, no easier to use.
Procion dye does not stain the washer at all. The laundry
products--which may be weak solutions of dark dye, I have never tried
them--probably will not either, as the companies that manufacture such
products test them extensively for consumer feedback. Also, I think
coloring the kind of materials your washer is made of requires entirely
different chemicals than textile fibers.
If your clothes are silk or wool, Dharma and similar suppliers sell
other home dyes, which I have not tried, for protein fibers.
If the clothes are entirely or partly synthetic, as far as home dyeing
goes you may be out of luck. However, there are dry cleaners who provide
re-dyeing services, and perhaps they will dye synthetics for you. I
don't know.
If this is a big problem, you might in future consider slanting your
purchases towards 100% cotton which is the easiest fiber to dye, IMO.
Rayon takes dye very well but is less sturdy in my experience, and can
be problematic for machine dyeing. Silk also takes dye well but I'd
hesitate to machine dye some silks. Can't say I've had any real
experience with dyeing silks though.
Fran
Lavolta Press Books on Vintage Clothing
http://www.lavoltapress.com
Lauren Walker wrote:
Hi,
A couple of the laundry soap companies now offer products recommended
for dark-colored clothes. The liquids appear to actually be dark-
colored themselves. I wear a lot of black, and it fades. I am wondering
if anybody has used any of these products, and if they help restore
dark colors or just mimimize fading, or if, perhaps they do not do
anything at all? Also, did it stain the washer or anything?
In the 18th C and perhaps other times, they was a whole service in
redying black stuff, a function now mostly covered by Rit. I was just
wondering about the effectiveness of these soap things, if anybody's
had experience.
Thanks.
Lauren
Lauren M. Walker
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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