Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Indigo Dyeing

At the last Designing Women meeting Dorothy set up an Indigo dye bath for us all to try. None of us had done this before. It was a cool day and Dorothy set it up on the verandah. She used the pre-reduced Indigo which requires Sodium Hydrosulphite and Soda Ash to be added to the mix. I was busy while Dorothy set up so I didn't see that part. Once everyone else had dyed their prepared silk scarves I put in 2 blouses I had rescued from the Op Shop. This silk blouse was originally the palest of pale pinks and the linen/cotton blouse was originally an extremely pale khaki colour. They both fitted me well but I didn't like the colours. When I bought them I thought I would save them for a dyeing opportunity - and this was it :-) I put them in once only for about 2 minutes. I've since found out that to get even colour you put them in, then remove them for 15-20 mins and reimmerse them, repeating as often as necessary to get darker and more even coverage. I actually wanted the blotchy look so I was quite happy with the results. The stitching was obviously a sythetic thread on the linen blouse but I think it looks quite decorative. I will replace the stitching which holds the 2 lace panels together at the front though. It did take a lot of rinsing remove excess dye. I think these are definitely "wearable". They are displayed here on "Freda" - my duct tape dress making dummy.