r/dyeing • u/RabidRuber • 18h ago
How do I dye this? Dying denim with Rit all purpose - do you NEED the fixative? What have I done wrong?
I have a denim jacket 76% cotton and 23% lyocell blend. I checked and supposedly Rit all purpose is fine with lyocell since it's plant based but...well.
I have dyed it using the bucket method(I'm not buying a new pot, no charity shops have one big enough) , ombre black/fuchsia. I have done this with two other jackets with the same dye, the same method (with different % cotton TBF) and both are fine.
This is not taking. When it's dry, it looks the way I want. But when I so much as rinse it, I can see the dye coming out.
I followed the instructions to use soap and salt, as hot water as I can manage so what have I done wrong?
Do I NEED the fixative? Did I maybe just not leave it long enough? Or hot enough? Should I have also used vinegar? Can I use fixative now, at this point, or should I try to strip the dye and start again? Why is this one jacket bullying me 😂
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u/shawlcat that’s the neat part, you don’t 18h ago
RIT all-purposesis a combination of dyes for various non-polyester fibers. Only the cellulose dye will take in your fabric, so the protein dye will rinse out.
Vinegar has nothing to do with setting dye in cellulose fiber.
It is possible that the higher Lyocell content needs hotter water than your past projects. If it were me, I would get proper fiber reactive dye and soda ash and give it another try with those (which do not need hot water and are bucket friendly).
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u/RabidRuber 16h ago
Ok thank you for the reply, maybe I haven't rinsed it enough as well 😫 I'm not opposed to the colour being less vibrant than originally intended but the seemingly constant leaking of colour is quite irritating as I want to sew other things onto it and don't really want those to get colour on next time I wash it :(
I'll have a look at fibre reactive dyes...Im in the UK so only have high street access to dylon (which suuuucks) or rit
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u/shawlcat that’s the neat part, you don’t 16h ago
Jacquard is available in the UK, and is a very established reliable brand.
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u/draftgirl24 16h ago
I think you will need to rinse and rinse and rinse until you get all of the rit dye out. Then use fiber reactive dye if you still need more color.
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u/RabidRuber 15h ago
😠in my heart I felt like I would have to rinse it to hell and back but the delusional part of me wanted some magic cure lol thank you, another commenter recommended a brand of fibre reactive dye I should be able to get here so I'm gonna look into that next as well... While I take a break from rinsing 😫
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u/AutoModerator 18h ago
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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