community of dyers

Hi Jacque,

I've had great results discharging with thiox then dyeing Bella Yoga wear. Here is a link to the pants I have used.

http://impweb.imprintswholesale.com/cgi-bin/implive98/site.w?location=olc/cobrand-product.w&product=810&frames=no&target=main&sponsor=000014

Jo

2Dye4 • Distinctive Tie Dye
http://2dye4.biz

"Someone will love it."

You know already, I think, that you must not use anything that contains bleach (hypochlorite) with spandex. It will eat holes.

However, discharge-printed spandex blends are commonly available on the market, so it's obviously possible to do it somehow.

There are a number of different discharge chemicals, but all the potentially suitable ones are based on sulfur. See What chemicals can be used to remove dye?, and scroll down to Reductive Discharges.

To my mind, the limiting point is how much heat your discharge agent requires. They all require heat and work better the hotter you get them, but spandex really hates heat. High heat can distort the shape of garments or fabric that contain spandex; all of the care labels invariably (as far as I've seen) advise washing in water no warmer than 105°F (40°C).

Jacquard Color Remover

"Turn rags into treasures! Jacquard offers an easy way to prepare old clothing and fabrics for a new life with fresh color, paint, or tie-dye. This highly concentrated liquid takes existing color and stains out of fabrics while it whitens. Unlike bleach, it removes color gently, without damaging fibers. Simply dissolve in warm waterand soak up to 4 lb. (1.8 kg) of natural or synthetic material, then rinse thoroughly. Caution — Harmful if swallowed. Not suitable for use by children."

Somehow you're going to have to compromise between the need of discharge agents for heat, and the need of spandex not to be damaged by heat. How well this is going to work depends entirely on how easily discharged the dye in your fabric is, which is absolutely unpredictable for commercially-dyed fabrics. Dischargeability has many times been observed to totally change without any notice or change in the labeling. You may want to consider dyeing your own spandex blends so that you know the dischargability of the dye you use.

Industrially, spandex yarns are dyed before knitting or weaving at temperatures up to 60°C (140°F). (See How to Dye Spandex.) You'd probably better take that as your absolute maximum temperature.

Rit Color Remover, which contains sodium dithionite (aka hydrosulfite), often works in hot tap water, though it works better at stovetop temperatures. Jacquard Color Remover is thiourea dioxide; good recipes from prochem call for very high heat, but the Jacquard ad for their color remover, which I'm include here to the left so that you can see it, claims that warm water will do it. Will it really? I do not know. Jacquard Discharge Paste, which contains Rongalit ST, can be heat set- by ironing; perhaps ironing flat will damage spandex less than steaming in wrinkles would. I once crisped some lovely little lycra/cotton baby pants in the oven, back when I was following Earth Guild's totally erroneous instructions to heat-set Procion MX dye on cotton; the edges of the pants were stiff and crackly, but they softened up and the pants proceeded to last through many washings until my baby outgrew them.

Tests will certainly be necessary! Please let us know how this works out for you.

-Paula