This is not my first tunic ever made, but this will be my first attempt at dying the fabric myself. I looked at various fabric stores and could not find the exact color and texture I was looking for. I decided to dye some fabric on my own. Mind you, this was not intended to be an A&S project and I had no intent on using period manners when I attempted dying. I simply wanted to derive the right color I was looking for without the over bright "modern" looking colors. I ended up dying two sections of natural linen. The color was still a bit brighter than I would have liked. I suppose if I want true period colors I will one day have to learn how to do dying in a period manner.
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Linen after dye and ringing out.
Not yet dried. |
I chose to dye the fabric in a tub rather than the washing machine. I chose this for two reasons. First, I have a front loader. When the machine is running the door locks. To open the door the machine must drain first. Makes it hard to check the progress of the dye. Second, I wanted to closely monitor the color.
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The reason everyone will look at me oddly
for the next 3~5 days! |
I made a number of mistakes and as I have said, this is my first attempt. My biggest mistake was to not wear gloves. I hate the feeling of rubber gloves and so I chose not to use them. "How bad can it be?" I thought. Well, it was pretty bad.
Here is my next project. The outer portion of the overall outfit I am making will be blue and green linen and wool. This is a bucket of wool soaking in the dye. This one will have to soak overnight me thinks to get the to the proper shade of green. If this works well enough I will have to repeat the entire process once more with some more linen and wool, only making it blue this time.
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| Before Dye |
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| Wool Soaking in green dye bath |
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| Linen after blue dye |
The green dye turned out so well, that I began processing the next batch. I used the same brand commercial dye and about the same amount of time for each soak. I was really hoping for a nice faded color. Period looking, but not super vibrant. I'd like the garment to look worn, and not right off the shelf. I really LOVE the way the blue linen came out.
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| Wool soaking in blue dye bath |
This is not my first tunic ever made, but this will be my first attempt at dying the fabric myself. I looked at various fabric stores and could not find the exact color and texture I was looking for. I decided to dye some fabric on my own. Mind you, this was not intended to be an A&S project and I had no intent on using period manners when I attempted dying. I simply wanted to derive the right color I was looking for without the over bright "modern" looking colors. I ended up dying two sections of natural linen. The color was still a bit brighter than I would have liked. I suppose if I want true period colors I will one day have to learn how to do dying in a period manner.
