How do you tie-dye a big blanket when it's raining outside?

Name: Liz

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Message: How do you tie a big blanket? It's raining outside. I usually do it outside. Can you do it in a machine? I need suggestions....

If the blanket will fit into the washing machine, you can dye it in there, but not if you've tied it, as for tie-dyeing. Washing machine dyeing is best for fabric that weighs 8 pounds or less, total, but only when you are dyeing it a single solid color.

What I've done with a large 100% cotton bedspread, when I did not want a solid color, was shape it in exactly the same way as you would tie a t-shirt for the swirl pattern. I spread it out on the living room floor to swirl it around and bundle it together into the desired shape. Then I placed it inside a large plastic storage bin, one that had no holes of any sort in the bottom. I poured dye over it, in the same pie-piece-sized sections of color as we usually do for a spiral, but according to the low water immersion dyeing recipe: that is, I mixed up the dye the same as for tie-dyeing, but I applied the soda ash after the dye, rather than before. I made sure to wet the entire spread with dye and then with the soda ash mixture that I poured over. I put the lid on the plastic bin afterwards to prevent any messy accidents.

After leaving the spread with the wet dye and soda ash on it overnight in a warm place (no colder than 70°F), I then washed it out in the washing machine, first using cool water to remove the soda ash and some of the excess dye, and then twice in very hot water to remove the remaining unattached excess dye. Here's a picture (with my cat blocking much of the design):

A large bedspread will require a lot of dye. A blanket that weighs five pounds will require as much dye as ten size extra-large adult t-shirts. Weigh your blanket, dry, before you start dyeing, to get an idea how much dye you'll need to use, and check my page, "How much Procion MX type dye should I use?".

I hope that you know the fiber content of your blanket, because it's very important to choose the right kind of dye for your fiber. It makes a big difference to use the right type of dye. Since my spread was made of cotton, I used Procion fiber reactive dye, which is the type of dye found in good tie-dyeing kits. It's usually best to avoid any sort of all-purpose dye, such as Rit, because it will fade quickly when washed, but there are some fiber combinations for which it's the best choice. If you have more questions about the type of dye to use, see my web site, or send another query.

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How do you tie-dye a big blanket when it's raining outside?

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