Educate me on dyeing clothes

[Greekman]

well, I Like my clothes, money is tight so dying them is a good option.
they are more lost their color than worn, courtesy of the high chlorine water of ours.

I have already dyed some dark blues and blacks I wear outdoors or under other clothes but I am not pleased with the outcome.
( I do follow instructions) After 7-8 handwashings with color friendly detergent I see loss of color on the edges and raised areas.
But I do not get any coloring on the skin. I tend to think it is the dyes fault so I am looking at buying RIT ones from abroad.

Are they THAT good? Or what is my expereinces so far the best one can get by dyeing clothes?

[nkawtg]

Don't know if RIT is that good.
Here are some tips for using RIT.
https://www.ritstudio.com/techniques/tips-for-successful-dyeing/

[Morning Sunshine]

 

[nkawtg]

You bring up a good subject Greekman.
When times get tough, making our clothing look good and last longer is a subject that doesn't get discussed much.

 

[Cedar]

RIT dye I have been happy with, but mostly I use natural dyes on my cloth and yarns. For instance you can get nine colors of dye just from onion skins, depending on what mordant (or none), that you use, which are lightfast and colorfast. Some mortants are as easy as using nails, cast iron, alum, ammonia (technically ammonia isnt), salt, copper pipe etc.

Tea and coffee also work, as does walnut hulls, grape leaves in the fall for yellows, yarrow and sage for greens.

RIT dye is the more reliable for the EXACT same hue each time, you are guarenteed to have different ranges with natural dyes, so if you want more than one article the same exact color, it needs to go.into the same dyebath.

Cedar

[endurance]

I've done a lot of clothing dye experimentation in the last year in making costumes for burning man. I've used powdered dyes and RIT. RIT worked better than the powdered dyes. However, my goals are often in opposition to getting good coverage. I want a worn and rustic look. To get this effect, I don't pre-soak the clothes. I let everything sun drip dry before rinsing. This gives a blotchy and faded look I'm after. If you want even dying, soak your clothes thoroughly first. Agitate frequently while soaking. Rinse before drying.

[Greekman]

I will be using the powder....

Any other better brand?

I have heard about presoaking. Any differecne if the water is cold or hot?

BTW the dye I used works like RIT

[endurance]

I use the hottest water I can get out of the tap mainly because otherwise it's much harder to get the salt to dissolve.

[jerseyboy]

I will be using the powder....

Any other better brand?

I have heard about presoaking. Any differecne if the water is cold or hot?

BTW the dye I used works like RIT

I have done it with boiling water when I was using the black RIT. 

Jerseyboy

[mountainmoma]

I will be using the powder....

Any other better brand?

I have heard about presoaking. Any differecne if the water is cold or hot?

BTW the dye I used works like RIT

I use dyes like these : http://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/dharma-fiber-reactive-procion-dyes.html

They sell a different one for wool on this site. These dyes do not fade out like the RIT dyes, these are used by professionals too.

[Greekman]

nice answer MM!

i will grab the chance and ask you somethign else.
My mother used to make embroideries with American made thick paint in tubes with a small roller ball like pens have.
Nothing like the fabric markers....
I used the dark blue and used to print my name on the shooting clubs T-shirts
They werre accidentally thrown away and I am searhing to replace this.

[mountainmoma]

nice answer MM!

i will grab the chance and ask you somethign else.
My mother used to make embroideries with American made thick paint in tubes with a small roller ball like pens have.
Nothing like the fabric markers....
I used the dark blue and used to print my name on the shooting clubs T-shirts
They werre accidentally thrown away and I am searhing to replace this.

I have never used this type of writing on fabric personally. You can email the Darhma Trading site I linked and ask them what they recommend. They have various fabric paints, I have never seen a roller ball one, but I havent done writing on fabric. This set http://www.dharmatrading.com/paints/kits/jacquard-lumiere-and-neopaque-mini-starter-set.html?lnav=paints_kits.html  comes in applicator bottles that you squeeze.

(The one time I neee to write on fabric, it was for a teen livestock club (4H, dairy goats) So, to be more "cool" for them, we cut out stencils out of cardboard and used regular spray paint. )

[Frugal Upstate]

Greekman--was it like a fabric "puff paint"? By that I mean was it a thick raised paint that stuck to the fabric and came in a squeeze bottle?  Try searching that phrase "fabric puff paint" and see if it's close to what you are looking for.

[Greekman]

I am convinced. Google IMAGE search is a far more powerful tool

searched for "embroidery paints" and among the very first ihts i got the same brand
Tri-Chem

https://www.google.gr/search?q=embroidery+paints&biw=1131&bih=769&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbrKysvJ3NAhVKnRQKHYT2AY8QsAQILw

http://www.trichem.com/index.html