What dyes and dye removers are best for customizing denim?

Name: Carol

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Hypochlorite

Country or region: UK

Message: Hi, I currently customise denim shorts with distressing, adding studs and rhinestones, etc. I want to move into dyeing, too, and considered dip dyeing denim shorts and to also use some techniques you have shown on your site. If I want to use yellow and lighter shades, what would I need to do to blue denim first? My main question is as to what dyes will work best for me. I have considered bleach on the darker jeans. What would you suggest?

Before you can dye jeans, you will need to lighten the color. Since dyes are transparent, they will not cover any but a very light color. However, if the denim is already worn to white in some spots, you can get an interesting effect by overdyeing with a bright color. If you use yellow dye on blue denim, you will get green.

As you probably already know, the big problem with dyeing denim is that you will never be able to get a true denim effect. Looking closely at a piece of denim fabric, you can see that the warp yarns, which are the lengthwise threads used to weave the denim, are all blue, while the weft yarns, which are the widthwise threads used to fill in, are white. A fabric will no longer look like denim if the white threads are dyed to any color other than white. After garment dyeing, denim turns into plain twill. There can be a nice subtle effect after dyeing, in which the white threads become brightly colored, while the originally dark threads only become darker.

Ordinary household bleach, the type whose main ingredient is sodium hypochlorite, is a good choice for lightening the color of denim jeans. The gentler color remover products we prefer for other fabrics don't work properly on the indigo blue dye used to dye denim. See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

Procion MX fiber reactive dye is an excellent choice for dyeing cotton. It's easier to mix the colors you want with Procion MX dyes than with Dylon dyes. Dylon dyes will work well for solid-color dyeing, because they, too, contain fiber reactive dyes, but they are less versatile for gradations and direct dye application. If you don't have a local source for purchasing Procion dyes, you can find several dye suppliers in the UK listed in the Europe section of my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". You will also need soda ash or washing soda, to set the dye.

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Posted: Tuesday - April 19, 2011 at 07:09 AM

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What dyes and dye removers are best for customizing denim?

Hypochlorite

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