I just bought a dress (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...parel&v=glance) that I'd like to dye and then use as a skating dress. I have no experience doing this and was wondering if any of you have a preferred method/equipment (cold water vs. hot water? any special chemicals involved?)

I'm hoping to do something that would be darker on the bottom and fade to lighter on the top.

Thanks!

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http://www.mirella-dance.com/performance/dyes.html Has samples they have done with the technique you are talking about. I have not tried these techniques (but hope to someday). You might want to double-check the fiber-content of their "samples" that they show (yours is cotten/lycra, I think some of theirs is similar if not the same).

You might want to test first on some scrap fabric.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Great idea! I have an old cotton/lycra white leotard (and also a pale blue one) that I hardly wear. I could use those as my guinea pigs!

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Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Also if anyone is interested, Dharma trading company has leotards and tights you can dye or paint. I've painted a couple and they come out well.

Mika, I'm painting all week in attempts to get ready for the Street Beat festival. Drop by if you want to practice and play with some paints.

Flo,
Have you done graded/graduated dyeing? Or do you strictly paint/airbrush?

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I've done painting and graduated dyeing. My first attempt was when my partner and I were waiting for our costumes. I had a royal blue Mirella camisole dress and dipped the hem in black, and faded up to the blue. I put him in all bblack.

I saw the wrap skirts at Dharma... wasn't sure which dyes to use to do dip-dyes or miscellaneous other effects.

Flo, which dyes/fabric paints do you use? I was thinking about doing something as a combination of dying and then adding some stones or other decorations for finishing touches.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

For the Mirella dress I used rit dye. I made a pot of it on the stove and hung the dress above. Mika gave me a white dance/skating skirt (she would know the brand) which I believe was a polyester blend, and I used setacolor pebeo transparent paints. I like them because they are heat set paints. I also do a lot of silk painting, and the transparent paints are great. This year I painted one of the Dharma bathing suits and some chiffon for my costume.

Sounds like I might be "experimenting" on my day off this week. Bwah-ha-ha! I might as well use my stove for something!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Ok, I went to Walmart only to find my local on does not carry RIT dye, only Dylon. The label says it is for natural fabrics and poly/cotton. Whatever. So I got some. Then I bought a microfiber camisole, some polyester tights, and cut up some white lycra (my $1/yd stuff)-hey, gotta try!

Ok, the camisole turned out pretty good, had some good results with that-the cotton shelf-bra turned out really dark (I chose a purple). Got a good graduated effect, although there were some streaks.

The lycra turned out very pale, almost a pale, pale lavender-this dye would not be my first choice for lycra. I bet it would work great for chiffon (I wish I had some)!

My second batch (tights) is still in the pot so you will have to wait.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

Deleware - Sounds great, I haven't tried the Dylon yet. I have found that with lycra, I do have to make the dye more concentrated and solk it for longer. I also heat up the mixture.

I painted a cople more pieces the other night. Thank goodness the paint comes off in the shower. I have a couple t-shirts that I paint in, and they are quite colorful now. I'm going to wear one to the festival when I sell my silks!

Just got it finished-tights were:
89% nylon/11% spandex and
80% nylon/20% spandex

both turned out the same color....looks pretty!

the lycra just looks like a pale, pale lavender; looks sort of a dirty white....I should get my sister to airbrush on it but she never does stuff for me

I did have the dye bath on the stove and had it simmering...

Now to scrub out my porcelen sink before my husband gets home! (don't worry-it will come out-I kept cold water running!)

This dye would be awesome on 100% cotton (for quilting!)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

The thing with Dylon is that you can get stuff specific for nylon, etc, and also stuff that you can do in the washing-machine (big advantage!!!!). I did once try to dye a leotard, and it came out flesh-coloured instead of the pink I was aiming for - which wasn't a bad thing, as it happened!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I'm kind of limited to what Walmart carries, unless I want to special order by mail. I did have fun dying the camisole and it turned out very interesting! I will have to give the picture to Casey and get a link up so you can see it.

This is something I could really get into.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

It's lots of fun, and you can get some interesting results.
Mrs. redboots, what was your leotard made of? I haven't tried an all nylon one.

Our grocery stores and drug stores also carry the rit dye. If there's a Michael's or AC Moore near you, they carry more fabric dyes and paints. These stores also have weekly 40% off coupons in the paper and honor eachother's - and this helps! I do mail order many of my supplies from Dharma Trading Company. They are fast, easonable and very helpful on the phone.
At some point I'd like to get some of my things photographed and on-line. I end up selling or giving things as gifts before I get a picture.

We have an AC Moore and I get teh 40% coupons; we also have a Michaels, but they hassle you with honoring the coupons...these are smaller stores too.

The larger stores are up north in Newark, but I don't go up there any more than I have to (thank goodness-I hated that drive. I can wait the 2 weeks for my rink to open).

I have bought stuff from Dharma, but haven't got into dying before-just bought clothes for my sister to airbrush on (she didn't have internet).

I should trade-airbrush stuff for her horse-showing clothes. She does beautiful work.

This might be a side-line; especially if I get some time off!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

This is a great thread. I love the look of graduated dyed items. Maybe I'll give it a try myself!


On an unrelated topic, I came home last night to find my brunette daughter had used temporary hair color spray to make herself a "blackhead." Most of it is now in my bathtub, which I had already cleaned twice this weekend since we had company. Left her a note to scrub it out herself today. (By the way, baking soda makes a gentle scrub and really takes most dye/paint off porcelain and enamel sinks.)

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OUCH! Sounds like a teenager! I use Bar keeper's Friend on my sink and tub. I can't use anything with heavy vapors...baking soda works good too!

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

ISK8NYC - good luck! Sounds like a good project for your daugther.
Here's another web site with some beautiful painting/dyeing. This is more the type that I do with the silks. I bought one and figured that I could learn to do it myself.
http://www.watercolourdancewear.com/home.html

I honestly can't remember - I think it did have some nylon in it, and probably some cotton, but I've really no idea! I don't think I have it any longer.

Isk8NYC, the way to stop your daughter is to say "Oh, what a lovely colour!" and do your own the same..... I did that with mine, the first time she dyed her hair while away for a weekend, and she didn't do it again for 2 years, by which time she was old enough!

Those wash-in sprays are great fun, though. I used a pink one for this year's interpretive programme!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

[QUOTE=flo] Mika gave me a white dance/skating skirt (she would know the brand) which I believe was a polyester blend, and I used setacolor pebeo transparent paints. [QUOTE]

The skirt I gave you was a white polyester chiffon skirt from Trienawear. It turned out looking great after you dyed it!

I had to exchange my dress for the next size larger. In Mirella leotards/dresses, I'm always a medium (and their newer mediums are larger than their older ones, lol). However, the Gaynor Minden dress was snug. Given that it would probably shrink when dipped into warm/hot dye water, I figured I needed the next size up and that might still be chancy. But hey, if it shrinks too much, I could probably sell it on eBay.

__________________
Ask me about becoming a bone marrow donor.
http://www.marrow.org
http://www.nmdp.org

Mika, that's a good point. I make sure that the leotards I paint have lots of room and are not too snug as I think the paint takes up a bit of the flexibility of the fabric. Also I like to paint clothing items on a form, so it will simulate being on the body and streatched a bit, or hanging right. I use a plastic form that was sold with a bathing suit at Sam's club. It was too big, so I cut it down and put it back together. You're welcome to borrow it when you start your dress. I'm always on the lookout for a smaller one at Sam's! I've also stuffed dresses with pillows (covered in something watertight) and hung them from our exposed beams to work on. I think I just need to buy a blow up doll!
The Trienawear skirt was a perfect length too , and took the paint well.