Dying Whites with Procion Dyes

Whenever I have a white piece of clothing that gets a little dingy, instead of bleaching it, I like to dye them in pretty colors. I’ve never been really into tie dye, but I have been dying natural fiber clothing and accessories with procion dyes for about ten years now. I love the colors you can get with the procion dyes, and they are so easy to use! I had a couple of tees and some white cut offs that I decided to dye recently. So, I thought I’d share the how to with you all.

Here’s What You Need:

*Natural Fiber Clothing like cottons, silk, even woods

*Procion Dyes ( I get mine Here, the colors I used were sea-foam Green, Wisteria, and Jade Green)

*Salt

*Soda Ash Fixer

*Bucket or Large Rubbermaid

*Plastic spoon

*Measuring cup and spoons

*Plastic cup for mixing

Instructions:

Dharma Trading has excellent instructions on dying fabrics with procion dyes which you can find here. This is how I learned to use the dyes. If you want to do a solid color tie dye, twist and bind your clothing with rubber bands.

Add the right amount of salt for your weight of fabric to your container, and then add the water you need. I use a five gallon bucket for small batches.

The next thing you need to do is make up your dye solution. Add a little water to your dye to make a paste. Mix up the urea, and then add your dye paste to the urea solution, Mix well. If your dye isn’t dissolved completely it can cause spots.

Add your dye to your salted water. Mix well.

Add your fabric to your dye bath and stir frequently for about 20 minutes.

Mix up your soda ash fixer, making sure it dissolves completely. Gradually add your soda ash solution to your dye bath. Continue to stir frequently for thirty minutes to an hour. My colors turned out really light, which I was pretty happy with. I did thirty minutes, but probably should have done an hour.

Once the time is up dump your dye bath and rinse your items. Rinse thoroughly under cool water.

 

Once they have been rinsed, ring them out and then wash them in the washer machine with detergent. Dry as you would as usual and then enjoy wearing your new duds!

 

I love to dye clothing! I dye them solids a lot, but occasionally I will tie dye a piece in a single color. The henley is one of my favorite new shirts! When I first decided to try dying clothing, I was a little nervous using procion dyes because I thought it would be hard. I found out very quickly that it was easy and oh so much fun! I hope you all will give them a try sometime! It’ll make you want to dye everything! I’ll be back next week with another fun DIY. Until then…

Happy Crafting!