Where to dye clothes?
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Anonymous
| I look better with cream next to my face instead of white. The difficulty is finding cotton shirts (easy to find a cream silk blouse but like, casual button downs). I would like to have some white shirts dyed cream and don't trust myself. Any recs for tailors in the DC area who are good at dyeing things? |
Anonymous
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If you have access to black tea, you can do this for yourself at home. Truly. Wash and dry the garment, prepare tea, dip shirt, wait until it's dry to proof color (which will fade a bit). If you like it, run it through the dryer (yes, dry, dyed shirt into dryer; heat sets the dye). Then wash as usual with a half cup of white vinegar to remove any excess dye/tea. Tea contains natural tannins that act as both dye and mordant (dyefast).
If you're worried about it ending up too dark, you can always sample on a dishtowel or other 100% cotton fabric. Be sure your shirt is 100% cotton, not a cotton/poly blend (which will also dye this way, but it'll hit different). This is kitchen safe; you don't need to buy special equipment or dedicated dyepots. It's WAY too easy to pay someone to do for you! |
Anonymous
| Black tea is a fugitive dye and will fade with exposure to sunlight and washing with soap. |
Anonymous
Sure, but 1) OP is going for cream/off-white, not a full tan or darker brown, so any amount of dye is probably enough for several wash cycles; and 2) if/when it fades, just do it again. |
Anonymous
Who has the time to keep doing that? Just buy a cream blouse ffs. |
Anonymous
| It will be very hard to do this evenly. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
OP here and I would agree with the "Just buy a cream blouse" but it is extremely hard to find a button down that isn't blinding white. Silk blouses, yes, I have no trouble finding those in cream. |
Anonymous
I'd honestly investigate having custom shirts made before trying to dye a white shirt cream and hoping for an even, colorfast result. |
Anonymous
| Try Everlane. They sell most very basic color. No need to dye. It will never look right. |
Anonymous
You're talking about 40 minutes every 2-3 months, assuming you wear and wash the thing weekly. You spend that much time (prolly more) shitposting on DCUM. |
Anonymous
Not if your shirt is 100% cotton and clean. Tannic waterbath dyes are pretty straightfoward, especially on cotton. You'll get "unevenness" if there's oil or staining on the shirt to begin with, or if you don't wash the sizing out of it first. Prewash and don't dry it with dryer sheets or anything and you should be fine. |
Anonymous
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I dye fabrics all the time, mostly silks.
Silks are challenging to dye for an amateur and easy to ruin if you don't know what you are doing. You can destroy the fabric finish, particularly with heavier silks and richer silks, such as silk satins, distort the fibers, and shrink the fibers. Lighter silks like chiffon and charmeuse are easier to dye and take dye beautifully, but require knowledge of how to properly dry and set the dyes or you will end up with a puckered, wrinkly, shrunken mess. The natural color of silk is a candlelight off white, so you just need to search a little to get silk that is in the cream family. Silk almost never comes in true white, and when it does it is quite expensive because it takes so much effort to make silk pure white. If the silk clothing you are buying is pure white, then it is likely not silk but a silk blend or entirely synthetic and mislabeled (especially if the pure white "silk" is inexpensive) If it is pure white silk blend, it won't dye easily, if at all. For synthetic fabrics to take dye, the water must be VERY hot, dye fixatives must be added, and the fabric must be properly rinsed then steamed. It is a PROCESS to dye synthetic fabrics. Synthetic fabrics take dye in very different ways using very temperatures and dye concentration than silk, which actually takes dye easily, with the difficulty in the drying and finishing. Dyeing a silk blend is difficult and not at all recommended. Dyeing silk should be done at the fabric stage before the garment is sewn. Silk, especially lightweight silks, will shrink on the bias when dyed due to the water temperature and agitation, so it needs to be dyed before cutting so the fabric grain is straight and the bias is not twisted. Dyeing a finished silk garment is very risky as you are likely to end up with a ruined piece of clothing that cannot be worn by anyone. If you want silk clothing, look for 100% silk which will not be pure white unless it is a VERY expensive piece of clothing like a suit or bridal gown, in which case you don't want to dye it period. 100% silk will be silk colored (yes, "silk" is a real color, a soft candlelight off-white) 100% silk will NOT be pure white. Pure white "silk" is a synthetic blend. Cotton clothing can be dyed, but only if you have already washed it and shrunk it in a hot dryer. If you have to wash it in cold water and air dry to keep it in your size, you cannot dye it because dying requires very hot, scalding water, which will shrink 100% cotton fabric. Cotton must be preshrunk before dying or you will ruin the fit. |
Anonymous
She will ruin her silk fabric if she does what you describe. |
Anonymous
The threads won't take the dye because the threads used in manufactured garments are synthetic, polyester based fibers. She will end up with a dingy looking shirt with bright white thread. |