Another advantage to Rit dyes for the beginner dyer is that the website has a ton of dye recipes. And they list quantities of dye and water for everything from one skein of yarn to several sweaters. I’d love to play and experiment more, but I’m on a tight budget and not dyeing enough yarn to be able to sell any ‘happy little accidents’ to recoup my costs. 😄Following a recipe helps me learn the basics so I can trust that any experiments will be wearable.
I've used 20 year old Liquid Rit Dye on cotton and still got a vibrant purple. I still have some Kelly Green, if I use it next year, it will have been in the cupboard for 25 years.
I have a closet-full of Rit dyes just for fun. When one of my sheets has too many kitty "accidents" or pillowcases have makeup, or my fave skirt fades or jeans fade, I turn to Rit to restore or just play, in a soup pot on my electric stove. I cook it a long time and usually there is lots of color left no matter what, it does not seem to "clear". I use it to overdue hideous yarns I bought on sale for my stash, making them useful especially when I do stripes and need dark colors like marroon or black, navy, to intermix and they don't have to exactly "match" etc. Results always interesting especially in yarn blends. One thing though, what you see wet is rarely what you get. I hate how much you have to rinse often revealing only a trace of the color you thought you had. In a snobby way I say acid and fiber reactive dyes are for artists, and Rit is for householders! But actually all the wonderful Rit formulae online prove me wrong because there are sophisticated ways of using these products. For those of us who love to experiment and play with color and process, it's a joy! Would love to see more, I think you have proved that they age well .... like us!!! 😍At 81 I can prove that art keeps us young!
Rit Dye is an odd duck. The black I got green out of it on a super wash wool. On a non super wash wool I managed to get a mauve grey on a sweaters worth of hand spun. I did it all with just hot tap water. There was no bleeding and no color came out when I washed it. I know the sweater I knit out of the "black" has not changed color after several washes. I could give you the step by step on what I did for each of these yarns and your result might be completely different than what I got because it shouldnt have worked.
I love to see you experimenting with more readily available dyes, like Rit or food colouring. I’m just starting my dyeing journey, and I’m not ready to commit to the acid dye lifestyle. 😄
I don’t think the bleeding was your fault. It’s just the nature of Rit dye. My late girlfriend dyed a cotton sweater light blue with RIt and ot just never stopped leaking dye. Years after she’d done it, I put it in with a load of white towels and they came out with a distinctly blue tint. I now am very careful to only wash it with blue items.
Some RIT dyes are more transient than others. Violet stopped bleeding after 2 washes; eggplant bled for 10+ washes and has faded to a weird pink color in the last 8 months. I did use the dye fixative.
It turned out so nice, I was a bit worried when it looked all black. You could try using some sort of tile under your hot plate, still wipeable and protects your counter from that darn screw. Yeah I know, one more thing to store but better than a ruined counter.
accidental galaxy yarn! Can you try to do a similar process with extra saturated dye stock? like 2%? I'd love to see how colors turn out with 2-3 % dye stock. and see where we get a ton of bleeding with colors not known to really bleed. Really like the way this turned out.
I’ve been interested in using the Rit Dyes but am very unsure of how colour fast they are. I guess the only way to find out is to test them. I do like the fact that they are in liquid form which appears easier to use? My New Years resolution will be to test Rit Dyes. thanks for the informative video. I so enjoy your videos.
So far my experiences with Rit dyes has been ok... I dyed a cotton-linen shirt a few years ago and then wore it gardening for a season and holy crap has the outside ever faded badly... but the fabric is also starting to disintegrate. I did use the fixative, and the colour's still nice on the inside, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that RIT is not terribly UV resisant. I have a lovely shirt my friend made me and dyed with RIT and I've worn it outside a couple of times with no noticeable fading and I've had it at least 5 years and it hasn't faded in that time, so my recommendation is just not to spend a whole day a week outside for a year or two in your RIT dyed cotton garment. And use the fixative. I can wash the purple shirts with everything else, I think the first time I put it in a white load to see what would happen and got a few faintly lilac socks and undies but it was gone with the next wash and it hasn't bled on anything else. The inside of the faded shirt is not that foar off what it originally was so I'd say with the fixative, it's relatively wash-stable I also dyed some wool blend with it (a magenta wool pile on a knitted polyester base dyed with the Indigo colour to get purple) for a winter coat and it's still the same colour (Barney purple) as when I dyed it two years ago, and the cool thing was only the wool took the dye so there are faint streaks of magenta where the pile isn't as thick, makes for a really neat effect. I used all the dye I had and soaked it in a rubbermaid tote until the water was cold and it absorbed almost all the colour, and it rinsed clear surprisingly quickly considering I had three metres of the stuff in there and it's bulky as heck.
Loved this one! I’m super curious about Rit now. Really appreciate the caveats you shared toward the end but I’m so intrigued at how beautifully this yarn turned out!
This video was timed perfectly for me because I just did a Rit dye experiment yesterday and had questions... and this video answered them. Thank you! ❤
That’s impressive. It looks like you made a fade set on purpose! I totally thought it would all come out dark but you just have a highly pigmented yarn.
It's a duo dye... you need a cotton yarn mop. I always dye cellulose yarns and animal protein fibers together with rit dyes. You will never clear the dye with just one yarn type. Research duo dye. Love your videos ❤.
Rit is a union dye that can dye both cotton or wool depending on the conditions. I'm pretty sure that I've had it exhaust in the past (most dyes that dye cotton will also dye wool, but those conditions are often harsh and break down the wool.) I will be honest and i don't know a ton about union dyes and how they work, though. Either way, I do love the final colorway!
I don't have a good answer for the fading, but I think it depends a lot on if you keep it in the sun or how much you wash it. I dyed some shirts for my kids with rit and they held up really well - but that was cotton vs wool.
Another advantage to Rit dyes for the beginner dyer is that the website has a ton of dye recipes. And they list quantities of dye and water for everything from one skein of yarn to several sweaters. I’d love to play and experiment more, but I’m on a tight budget and not dyeing enough yarn to be able to sell any ‘happy little accidents’ to recoup my costs. 😄Following a recipe helps me learn the basics so I can trust that any experiments will be wearable.
Thank you!!
I've used 20 year old Liquid Rit Dye on cotton and still got a vibrant purple. I still have some Kelly Green, if I use it next year, it will have been in the cupboard for 25 years.
This video is EXACTLY what I needed. I'm going to be dying yarn tomorrow morning with Rit dye. Subbing! 😊
I'm so glad i could help!
I LOVE the outcome!
I didn't really see it until twisted up, but the dimension on that yarn mop is amazing.
I have a closet-full of Rit dyes just for fun. When one of my sheets has too many kitty "accidents" or pillowcases have makeup, or my fave skirt fades or jeans fade, I turn to Rit to restore or just play, in a soup pot on my electric stove. I cook it a long time and usually there is lots of color left no matter what, it does not seem to "clear". I use it to overdue hideous yarns I bought on sale for my stash, making them useful especially when I do stripes and need dark colors like marroon or black, navy, to intermix and they don't have to exactly "match" etc. Results always interesting especially in yarn blends. One thing though, what you see wet is rarely what you get. I hate how much you have to rinse often revealing only a trace of the color you thought you had. In a snobby way I say acid and fiber reactive dyes are for artists, and Rit is for householders! But actually all the wonderful Rit formulae online prove me wrong because there are sophisticated ways of using these products. For those of us who love to experiment and play with color and process, it's a joy! Would love to see more, I think you have proved that they age well .... like us!!! 😍At 81 I can prove that art keeps us young!
The paler dyed yarn would make perfect contrast yarn to go with the darker yarn. I could see it as an edge or stripe on a sweater!
OOOO!
Rit Dye is an odd duck. The black I got green out of it on a super wash wool. On a non super wash wool I managed to get a mauve grey on a sweaters worth of hand spun. I did it all with just hot tap water. There was no bleeding and no color came out when I washed it. I know the sweater I knit out of the "black" has not changed color after several washes. I could give you the step by step on what I did for each of these yarns and your result might be completely different than what I got because it shouldnt have worked.
Maybe rinse the bottles & dye a set of minis with the rinse water?
Lovely! I really like the yarn mop.
I love to see you experimenting with more readily available dyes, like Rit or food colouring. I’m just starting my dyeing journey, and I’m not ready to commit to the acid dye lifestyle. 😄
I don’t think the bleeding was your fault. It’s just the nature of Rit dye. My late girlfriend dyed a cotton sweater light blue with RIt and ot just never stopped leaking dye. Years after she’d done it, I put it in with a load of white towels and they came out with a distinctly blue tint. I now am very careful to only wash it with blue items.
Some RIT dyes are more transient than others. Violet stopped bleeding after 2 washes; eggplant bled for 10+ washes and has faded to a weird pink color in the last 8 months. I did use the dye fixative.
It turned out so nice, I was a bit worried when it looked all black. You could try using some sort of tile under your hot plate, still wipeable and protects your counter from that darn screw. Yeah I know, one more thing to store but better than a ruined counter.
accidental galaxy yarn! Can you try to do a similar process with extra saturated dye stock? like 2%? I'd love to see how colors turn out with 2-3 % dye stock. and see where we get a ton of bleeding with colors not known to really bleed. Really like the way this turned out.
I’ve been interested in using the Rit Dyes but am very unsure of how colour fast they are. I guess the only way to find out is to test them. I do like the fact that they are in liquid form which appears easier to use? My New Years resolution will be to test Rit Dyes. thanks for the informative video. I so enjoy your videos.
So far my experiences with Rit dyes has been ok... I dyed a cotton-linen shirt a few years ago and then wore it gardening for a season and holy crap has the outside ever faded badly... but the fabric is also starting to disintegrate. I did use the fixative, and the colour's still nice on the inside, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that RIT is not terribly UV resisant. I have a lovely shirt my friend made me and dyed with RIT and I've worn it outside a couple of times with no noticeable fading and I've had it at least 5 years and it hasn't faded in that time, so my recommendation is just not to spend a whole day a week outside for a year or two in your RIT dyed cotton garment. And use the fixative. I can wash the purple shirts with everything else, I think the first time I put it in a white load to see what would happen and got a few faintly lilac socks and undies but it was gone with the next wash and it hasn't bled on anything else. The inside of the faded shirt is not that foar off what it originally was so I'd say with the fixative, it's relatively wash-stable
I also dyed some wool blend with it (a magenta wool pile on a knitted polyester base dyed with the Indigo colour to get purple) for a winter coat and it's still the same colour (Barney purple) as when I dyed it two years ago, and the cool thing was only the wool took the dye so there are faint streaks of magenta where the pile isn't as thick, makes for a really neat effect. I used all the dye I had and soaked it in a rubbermaid tote until the water was cold and it absorbed almost all the colour, and it rinsed clear surprisingly quickly considering I had three metres of the stuff in there and it's bulky as heck.
Loved this one! I’m super curious about Rit now. Really appreciate the caveats you shared toward the end but I’m so intrigued at how beautifully this yarn turned out!
That colorway is very pretty
This video was timed perfectly for me because I just did a Rit dye experiment yesterday and had questions... and this video answered them. Thank you! ❤
That’s impressive. It looks like you made a fade set on purpose! I totally thought it would all come out dark but you just have a highly pigmented yarn.
It's a duo dye... you need a cotton yarn mop. I always dye cellulose yarns and animal protein fibers together with rit dyes. You will never clear the dye with just one yarn type. Research duo dye. Love your videos ❤.
Rit is a union dye that can dye both cotton or wool depending on the conditions. I'm pretty sure that I've had it exhaust in the past (most dyes that dye cotton will also dye wool, but those conditions are often harsh and break down the wool.) I will be honest and i don't know a ton about union dyes and how they work, though. Either way, I do love the final colorway!
Stainless steel cleaner will get those stains out of your catering trays. (If they bug you 😁).
I just worry about weakening the trays. Thankfully there hasn't been transfer.
Would the rit dye be considered more “safe” to do in a home kitchen then acid dyes?
I bought some Rit but have not used it yet. I wonder how it wears fade wise. I'm still using acid dye.
I don't have a good answer for the fading, but I think it depends a lot on if you keep it in the sun or how much you wash it. I dyed some shirts for my kids with rit and they held up really well - but that was cotton vs wool.