Corkwood knitting and crafts

Procion dyeing in a washing machine

Items needed-:
Dye (Weigh your dry fabric. For each 100g of fabric you need
0.2 - 1g dye for pale shades, 2-3g dye for medium shades and 6-8g dye for heavy
shades such as black and navy)
Washing machine
Measuring jug or jam jar
500g Common salt (About a cupful)
35g Soda Ash (About 2 heaped tablespoons)

The technique for dyeing in a washing machine may vary depending on the type
of machine you have so you may have to refer to your washing machine handbook
if you are unable to follow any of these instructions.   Procion will dye well at 40oC-50oC.
The washing machine must not be set to pre wash as you don’t want any dye to drain
out before the fixative has been added.  The wash cycle should last for over an hour.

It is recommended that if you have not used Procion in your washing machine
before that you should have a test dye session with something that is not too
important!

For washing machine dyeing the quantity of salt and soda ash required is always 
the same as their strength is guided by the volume of water used  but the weight of
the dye varies and is dependant on the dry weight of the fabric.

Dyeing Procion in your washing machine-

1. Make sure your fabric is free of any sizing, oi,l dirt or other contaminants and if
needed wash your fabric in a 60oc wash in the washing machine.

2. Take the required amount of dye and place in the bottom of a jug or jar. Add
a little water to make a paste and give the mixture a good stir. Then add some
warm water and make approx 500ML in solution. Mix thoroughly to make sure the
dye has completely dissolved.

3  Add the 500g salt in to the washing machine drum

4.  Add the dye solution to the washing machine drum

5  Add the clean fabric in to the washing machine

6. Turn on the washing machine making sure it is not set to pre wash and let it
start its cycle

7 After 15 minutes you should be able to see that your fabric has been evenly
coated with dye and salt solution, however at this point the colour hasn’t been
fixed so it would just wash out if you rinsed it.

8. The next step is to add the Soda ash fixative. Dissolve 2 heaped tablespoons
(35g soda ash) in to 1 litre of warm water in a jug.
You can either stop the wash without allowing the dye water to drain and add the
soda solution to the drum or if your machine will not allow you to do this you can
pour the solution through the main powder drawer as the machine is washing.
As soon as the fixative is added you can continue with the main wash cycle until 
the end of the programme.

At the end you should have some neatly dyed fabric.