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Overdyeing Wool

Hi all, I managed to find some wool today at a thrift shop, lovely soft, 150cms wide and 4 metres of fabric, very cheap. Perfect for costume making.... One problem though, it is a screamingly bright fuchsia pink!! I know pink was known in medieval times, but this is just too bright (and I don't do pink...) Not my colour at all :) So I buy it anyway thinking "The wonderful people on alt.sewing will know what to do about changing this colour and toning it down...." :) So my question is: As almost any other colour on the planet would be acceptable to me, what colour could I use to overdye it maybe burgundy-red or a more purplish shade? I'm not too worried about the outcome, just not

*PINK* guys, OK? Thanks for any help you can throw my way :)

Gina

Reply to
Gina van Acker
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Sounds like a great project. ;) I love it when I can "rescue" something from the thrift shop.

Sharon

Reply to
Sharon Hays

Years ago I dyed a pink snowsuit with brown dye and got a lovely warm brown. It was not wool, though.

Jean

Reply to
Jean D Mahavier

"Gina van Acker" wrote in news:4448bd88$ snipped-for-privacy@mail.netspeed.com.au:

i bought some screaming pink linen for my 3 year old son's Ren. Faire outfit & overdyed it a dark green. it came out a lovely warm brown. i used green & gold trim, & it looked really nice. wool dyes somewhat like linen, so if you want it more burgundy or purple, try a blue overdye. do you have enough to try a few different squares in different shades of dye? that could also be your shrinkage testing ;)

lee

Reply to
enigma

First, check to make sure what you have is wool, Lee. You can do this two ways: either clip a bit and burn it (holding it with tweezers over a heat-resistant container), or soak it in bleach for an hour or so. If it's wool, the burned fiber will char into a black bead and will self-extinguish. When you touch the cooled bead, it should crumble easily. If you soak it in a bit of bleach, real wool will dissolve completely, usually within an hour and a half or so. If it is a blend, the wool part will dissolve and leave behind whatever the other fiber(s) are.

If it is truly wool, dyeing it should be easy, since wool takes dyes very well. If it has some synthetic in it, that might be more difficult, depending on what the other fiber is.

Have fun!

Karen Maslowski > "Gina van Acker" wrote in

Reply to
Karen Maslowski

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