Dyeing mixed fabric

[leaky5]

I have just made this out of some spare material I had. I like the bag but am also thinking of doing one in a plainer colour.

IIRC it is 70/30 cotton/polyester.

So I was thinking of dyeing some of the same material to see how it comes out. I am not worried if some of the camo still shows through, it would be nice to tone it down a bit.

If anyone can share their experiences of dyeing this type of material it would be appreciated.

A few things I have read just say to mix up a cotton and a poly dye, I have lots of scraps, so can do a bit of trail and error.

 

[Toddy]

There are two things that come to mind, and I have dyed a lot of fabric

Firstly, any dye that takes on the mix will be within a tonal range, so it will look muted, but right, if I make myself clear ?

Secondly, is there one of the colours that you actually kind of like ? and if so, then aim for that in your dyeing. It'll darken that colour down a shade or two, but take the rest into it's tonal range.

iDyePoly
http://www.jacquardproducts.com/idye.html

but available in Tesco
http://www.tesco.com/direct/idye-poly-green/672-9887.prd

This works, but it's often more like a soft stain than a dye, tbh. The parent company sell another product that's supposed to enhance the colour….shows you that they're aware there are disappointing issues with the dye I reckon.

Personally I'd aim to dye the cotton portion of the fibres and hope it covers well enough to fudge the remaining colour from the polyester.
You won't get rid of the camouflage, put it that way, regardless of what you do. You can effectively mute it though or totally change it's tones/colour base. Navy for instance, though Red and Browns take well on that stuff. Black can be inclined to look as though it was dyed, iimmc ?

Interested to hear how you get on with it, and to see the final results

While I mind, the edgings might well not dye the same way as the fabric, I know someone who dyed a camp havesack thing and the desert coloured bindings and straps turned out green when the pack was dyed blue….mind the colour wheel use of the three primary colours.

M

 

[Macaroon]

I dyed a 65/35 cotton to poly mix a while back using the cotton dye only method that Toddy mentions above and it came out very well; muted the camo down very nicely to an acceptable, wearable set of tones.

Be aware of one thing, though, dye the fabric before making the item as some of the threads used in stitching are not always good at taking the colour as the material will and they come out in contrast to it, and end up looking like piping!

 

[leaky5]

Firstly I wanted to assure you all (as I know you are laughing at my sewing skills). That the velcro patch is straight, I just went and measured it. It must have been the photo angle or the bag laying not quite flat, making it look wonky.

I was thinking about dyeing this one, but there is all the webbing and binding I don't want to spoil. So I will probably make another one from the same material and try to dye it a green tone. It might also be interesting to see how the reverse side comes out, it is a light olive sort of colour, with hardly any of the camo showing through.

Macaroon

Did you use a cotton or poly dye ?

 

[leaky5]

It might also be interesting to see how the reverse side comes out, it is a light olive sort of colour, with hardly any of the camo showing through.

This is the reverse, I might even use that is the dyeing does not work

 

[Macaroon]

I used a cotton dye as the major constituent of the fabric was cotton; had the mix been the other way around I'd have used poly dye.

 

[Toddy]

Leaky5, that fabric might do well with a colour run remover put through it. It can take off a lot of the dye that's on the surface and not deep in the fibres.

Macaroon's so right about the threads too, and worse still, if you do dye and they show up differently, then every single stitch shows, even the wonky ones.

M

 

[leaky5]

This was the first attempt with the easiest dye to get hold of, Dylon warm water. It has taken the greens and light browns down a bit. i might try the same but more concentrated.

 

[Toddy]

It did mute it, didn't it ? the white really stands out though…..does it look like splashed paint on the whole piece ? or does it blend in when seen in it's entirety ?

I'm almost tempted to tell you to try the cheap teabags method

M