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Dyeing some Rick tees

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  • beardown
    rekoner
    • Feb 2009
    • 1418

    Dyeing some Rick tees

    I had a few Rick tees that I never wore due to their colors...one was cream (l/s) and one was bleach (s/s...which is a type of light blue).
    The L/S cream was 100% cotton, pretty sheer. The bleach was semi-sheer and made from Viscose and Rayon.

    The color I was looking to achieve was a dried blood....almost like a light burgundy. I used liquid RIT and purchased 'scarlet' and also already had a bottle of black so I decided I would mix some black in with the scarlet to get the color I was looking for.

    So the main thing to consider is the weight of this fabric....it's almost like gauze so it will absorb a lot of water but it will also only actually hold a little bit if that makes sense.
    Start out by wetting the tees...make sure they are completely soaked with warm/hot water.
    I did these in the sink....so run a sink 2/3 full of the hottest water you can get, mix in the liquid dye (in this case 1/2 bottle of scarlet and about 4 oz. of black) ADD one cup of table salt (for absorption) and mix that all together for about 2 minutes.
    Add the pre-soaked warm t-shirts and completely soak them while wearing gloves. Squeeze out all the air (the viscose tends to trap it) and agitate them really well.
    Continue with the agitation for about 20 minutes (on and off...the idea is to keep any part of the fabric from floating up out of the water so the dye doesn't get uneven).

    Pull the plug out of the sink and let the dye run out and start running cool water. Rinse the tees in cool/cold water to help set the dye and squeeze out any excess. You're going to get a shitload coming out because these shirts are so thin, they don't hold much moisture because the saturation point is really low. Continue rinsing...at this stage, you can twist them and work them pretty well but don't get too rough. Remember, these are pretty fragile when they're dry but the water does add some strength.

    At this point, get some Woolite and toss in the sink and fill it back up. Work and agitate the tees again...keep them going to get out all the excess dye. THEN, rinse again.
    It's kind of a laborious step but if you don't really do this well, you're going to get dye on everything you wear it with eventually. So keep going until the water is running fairly clear out of it...(it takes a while) and then wring them out again. Be fairly gentle but get out the water as much as possible.

    Unroll the shirts and lay them on a flat (preferably dark) towel. Roll them up in the towel and squeeze to get excess moisture out. The next step is critical...DRY THESE FLAT OR ON AN AIR DRY RACK. If you hang these dry, they will be so stretched out of shape that you won't be happy. Dry them flat (or almost all the way dry and then hang for the last hour or so). Takes a few hours to dry but when they do completely, they will be back to their natural shape and a new, improved color.

    RESULTS: The viscose/rayon tee was a light blue and ended up as a light burgundy. I wish this one were a little bit darker but synthetics aren't know for holding dye unless you use heat, which I didn't want to do. At first, there was barely any sheerness to the tee, as if the dye had locked into the fiber but as it dried, it was about as semi sheer as I started out with.

    The l/s cotton tee was perfect. Like the color you see after you pull a Band Aid off of a wound. Which is what I was hoping for on that one.

    NOTES: I don't think anyone would recommend RIT dye. It's an OK all purpose dye but there are much better dyes out there. Powder dyes (mix them BEFORE adding) will give you a deeper hue and better penetration of the fibers of your garment. Some people use vinegar to set the dye but I think that only works with acid based dyes (which are very good in heat). As far as this goes, it was fast (I could pick the dye up at the local store) and easy and I was happy with the results.

    A good thing to mention is that some of the thread used to construct the rayon/viscose tee is nylon and didn't pick up the dye at all. So you get a reverse stitching effect. Fairly subtle but know that in advance that it's not uncommon for designers to use nylon thread to piece together garments like tees because it's generally stretchier and stronger than cotton. This nylon thread will NOT hold regular sink dye.

    One more note: You may want to wash them again right after wearing them to get whatever dye is left in there. And don't wear it over any expensive white shirts until you see the water run totally clear after a washing.

    RESULTS:
    100% Cotton L/S Rick Owens sheer tee (had been cream)


    70% Viscose/30% Rayon semi-sheer tee (had been bleach/light blue)


    If you want that really rich red color that Rick gets, definitely use the more advanced reactive powder dyes. Liquid RIT is only capable of so much and isn't known for its bright colors.
    Originally posted by mizzar
    Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.
  • zamb
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2006
    • 5834

    #2
    These look really good B,
    dying is something i have very little experience in,
    I must experiment more in this area........
    its also interesting that the shirtd become somewhat unique as the thread colours are affected very little by the dye,
    good work man
    “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
    .................................................. .......................


    Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

    Comment

    • beardown
      rekoner
      • Feb 2009
      • 1418

      #3
      Thanks, Zamb.
      It looks like the best dye for random material is a fiber reactive dye called Procion MX (which was mentioned in the leather dyeing thread).
      I think it would be fun to experiment with some of that stuff...it's supposed to be much brighter and denser and last longer.
      It's probably similar to the lab dyes used for garment dyeing that gives such a deep, rich uniform color.
      I have a few other garments that I'll probably try with some of the better stuff.
      I'm happy with these but I probably wouldn't use RIT again after reading about the other dyes and how rich the color might have been (more like a proper Rick 'blood' color with the Procion I'm guesing) but this was fairly easy and fairly quick and some of the preparation for the richer dyes involve soda ash, vinegar and other acids/bases/neutralizers to stabilize everything and set the color and keep it bright.

      Gave me a whole new respect for garment manufacturers who do garment dyeing and go through the trouble to achieve those really deep, rich colors.
      Originally posted by mizzar
      Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.

      Comment

      • beardown
        rekoner
        • Feb 2009
        • 1418

        #4
        Thanks for the input and info, Mona.
        There are only a handful of things I won't try and one of them would be boiling up a sheer Rick tee or a pot full of silk and rayon.
        The consensus for RIT on most textile forums when people ask about it was to run, not walk, from it and I was always steered directly to fabric reactive dyes for cotton and nothing but acid dyes for synthetics.


        Here's a pretty good tutorial for all-purpose dyes and fabrics if anyone is interested in reading more about dyeing cotton or synthetics...
        I didn't use vinegar because of this note ....
        "Do not use vinegar to try to make all-purpose dye more permanant. This much-repeated advice simply does not work, on cotton."

        There are several products that can 'fix' dye (Retayne seems to be the most popular)
        I don't know what kind of effect boiling water would have on Rayon/silk blends or sheer cotton (except a lot of shrinkage) but I just didn't want to take the chance. I knew that if these came out too light that I would be able to dye them black and at least get a dirty, darkshadow color out of them.

        Until I have some more experience playing around with the process, I'll stick to cheaper fabrics and clothes just to get a good feel for the process.
        As far as throwing some shirts into the sink and getting a color really close to what I was shooting for, I'm happy but I'd really like to learn how to dye more substantial pieces at some point like jackets and get a solid color that lasts and minimal negative effects from the simmering heat.
        Have you ever dyed a jacket or something assembled from different materials? I have one I want to try that's nylon outer and jersey cotton lining but I'm afraid to actually do it. I bought Jacquard acid dyes specifically for the project but chickened out because I was afraid to put the jacket in simmering water.
        Especially since every garment you buy these days either has a 'dry clean only' or 'do not submerge in water' label. Designers really try to scare you off from taking care of your own clothing!
        Originally posted by mizzar
        Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.

        Comment

        • fadetogrey
          Senior Member
          • Apr 2009
          • 311

          #5
          Nice colour.

          I've had great success using Procion MX dyes (with salt and soda ash), as it gives you great flexibility in mixing custom colours. I've achieved very specific and vivid colours this way.

          For more rich natural colours I really like natural dyes, used with mordants. I haven't done it since university, though! I think I'll have to find my old books and info!

          Comment

          • jcotteri
            Senior Member
            • Jun 2008
            • 1328

            #6
            great result BD
            WTB: This

            Comment

            • tomatous
              Banned
              • Jan 2009
              • 446

              #7
              ^^ what he said. Did you ever get around to dyeing that 10 dollar double layered T shirt? I wouldn't mind seeing the results there either :)

              Comment

              • beardown
                rekoner
                • Feb 2009
                • 1418

                #8
                Tomatous,

                I did dye the double layer...it was (I think) 80% bamboo (which gave it some drape) and maybe a cotton blend? The results were good...it ended up being a a dark gray because I didn't agitate it or let it soak for too long (maybe 10 minutes) but it seemed to hold the dye pretty well.

                I wash all of that stuff by hand and lay it flat to dry so that probably explains why it doesn't fade much.
                When I wash stuff, I use just a little bit of Woolite in the sink, wring it out and then lay it on a rack to dry.

                I'll try to track that shirt down and take a picture of it but it ended up being a fairly non-transparent dark gray using RIT black liquid dye in a sink using hot water.
                Originally posted by mizzar
                Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.

                Comment

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