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Dark Cobalt just WONT rinse out!

I dyed some cotton velour 80/20 poly/cotton with several colors, including Dharma's "Cobalt". I think I used it a bit too much cobalt and the dye was probably over concentrated. I initially hosed it off with cold water then washed it 3 times in the coldRINSE/hotWASH/coldRINSE cycle with synthrapol. Then I additionally boiled water and poured it over (and soaked it a little) TWICE.
After each boiling rinse, the fabric runs clear when running cold water. But if I do a hot iron test between 2 white cotton scraps.... it continues to bleed. Also bleeds when I wrap the damp dyed fabric in white while cold.
Can I save this? Will it bleed forever? This fabric is going to be used in items that will be frequently washed in hot.

By becky at 2012-07-02 17:34 | What I'm working on right now | login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

getting rid of excess dye

Hi Becky,

If the cobalt mix has turquoise and/or fuchsia in it, you might find that several soakings in boiling water will be required. I've had this same experience with those two dyes. Soak in boiling water until water is cool, rinse in warm water. Repeat. This could be a lengthy process if there is a lot of excess dye that did not bond with your fiber!

Sarah Jackson
http://madaboutfabric.blogspot.com

By sljack at Tue, 2012-07-03 12:01 | login or register to post comments

rinsing out excess dye

Hmmm...what kind of water do you have? Is it at all hard? Did you use water softener (sodium hexametaphosphate)? It's harder to wash out dye if there's calcium in the water, because calcium forms complexes with some of the dyes. Calcium is the white stuff (along with magnesium) that forms deposits when water is mixed with soap, but there doesn't have to be enough of it for you to see for it to cause problems.

Try soaking for a long time with some hexametaphosphate in hot water; don't bother with any cool rinses until you've tried a few more times with really hot water. As you already know, boiling water is the best choice for this.

[I fixed the typo that you mentioned; hope that's okay.]

-Paula

By pburch at Mon, 2012-07-02 18:33 | login or register to post comments

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