Suggestions for color mixing?

[u/intricate_brocade]

Hello! I have a handful of these white 100% cotton cushion covers from IKEA that I'd like to dye various shades to be throw pillows. I picked up some iDye from my local art supply store on clearance, and I've been searching for color mixing guides and can't really find what I'm looking for. (Maybe this means color mixing isn't really a thing with this type of dye?? Idk, I'm new to this.)

Here are the colors I picked up:

Golden yellow
Chestnut
True red
Gold ochre
Scarlet

I'm hoping to end up with mustard, rust, and terra cotta. Can I achieve any of those colors with these dyes? Can I achieve other colors using a combination of these dyes? Am I better off just to use one dye packet at a time, and see if I like the color alone? If I dye with one color and don't love it, can I overdye that with a different color?

Thanks in advance!

[u/AutoModerator]

Our wiki is currently under construction however: there's a good chance your question has been answered in a previous post.

If you are dyeing cellulose fibres (cotton, hemp, linen, ramie, flax, nettle, rayon, bamboo, tencel, plants generally, etc.), you will need a fiber reactive dye.

If you are dyeing a protein fiber (wool, alpaca, llama, Angora, mohair, feathers, animal stuff generally, etc.), you will need an acid dye.

Leather is dyed with leather specific dyes such as those from Angelus.

Silk will dye with either acid or fiber reactive dyes but will yield different results depending on which you use.

Polyester can sometimes be dyed. It can only be dyed with synthetic specific dyes such as iDye Poly or RIT Dyemore. It usually cannot achieve a dark or rich colour at home. Acrylic usually cannot be dyed at all.

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[u/Mermaidman93]

Dye mixing tends to be best with powdered dyes because you can fully control how much of each color you ads in. With idye, each portion is prepackaged so it has to be used all at once. That's what the brand is known for.

Even still, you might be able to get close to the color you want. I would just use them one at a time to see how close you can get to your goal colors.

I would start with chestnut as that's probably close to terracotta.

In the future, I would suggest using the fiber reactive dyes from Dharma Trading Co. They have a very large color catalog to choose from and it's easy to mix colors. The dyeing process is more extensive but you do get really nice results. There's also no boiling water involved.

Keep in mind that the stitching will remain white and won't change color. Most people just use a sharpie in a similar color to fix that.

[u/intricate_brocade → u/Mermaidman93]

All very useful info! Ty :)