Dying clothes
Hi all, I have this amazing story mfg linen shirt but the bright orange is not my vibe at all. I'm thinking about dying it a neutral color, like black or brown. I want to keep the pattern at the bottom, though. Is there a way to change that too while keeping the pattern? Or I could tie it off and just dye the rest of the shirt.
This is also my first time dying something (besides tie-dye) so any general tips are welcome!
10 Replies
going to be very rough with this. the natural dyes they use will be pretty unpredictable to get any decent color up top. Getting it to set right will be another big challenge, as it's sure to bleed down one way or another. Tying it up or what have you is sure to end up with an ombre up to the point that doesn't get wet with dye
Honestly this particular project is one you could DM or email story. Any other brand will tell you to kick rocks, but the team there seems like they'd be interested and have real advice for how to dye/how certain dyes will take. It's a non answer, but I'd DM em
Indigo (or weld), coffee/tea, or madder would make brown, iron would go to black. To keep the pattern at the bottom you would have to tie (I believe Story MFG uses clamps for this in particular) in the exact way that they did. It looks like they dip-dyed the top and then clamp-dyed the bottom.
I think that this would be a super difficult first dye if you're looking for anything exact.
My advice would be to do coffee, indigo, or iron, just garment dye it, and live with the wabi-sabi.
Thanks for the response! Dming story is a good idea
Wow love the indepth dying knowledge, thanks! Yeah I love the pattern but I might just garment dye it, I feel like I would make it worse trying to be exact. Maybe if I'm easy with the dye the pattern will still show through? It would be a shame to lose it completely
Iron might be your best bet I think since it mostly reacts with the dye and not the fabric. I think the top of this shirt is madder and the bottom is babul bark, so it might work to do two different iron dyes. Make one up at a high concentrate, at like 5% the weight of fabric, and then dip dye the top until grey/black (madder and iron makes a deep purple, but typically you add iron at like 0.25-3% weight of fabric) and then do dip dye the bottom at 1-3% weight of fabric. The pattern should still stay, and you'll be able to rinse it out of the fabric a bit before you fix it.
Botanical Colors
How To Use Iron Powder (Ferrous Sulfate) - Botanical Colors
Ferrous Sulfate is used alone as a mordant, as a color shifter and to increase lightfastness when used in combination with other natural dyes.
DekelDyes
DekelDyes Natural Dyes, Dye Extracts and Exclusive Fabrics | Israel
DekelDyes Natural Dyes, Dye Extracts and Exclusive Fabrics | Israel
Some good dye reading too
Story mfg.
Our natural dyes
We use natural, organic and skin kind materials to make our stuff. Natural Indigo (Indigofera Tinctoria)Dye colour: Blue tonesIndigo is one of the world’s oldest dyes, with evidence of its use stretching back at least 6,000 years ago in South America and through the ages in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt and India where it
Totally thought I responded to this!!! This is so helpful thank you so much. It's tough because it would be a really great DIY project and I know I would love it if it came out right. On the other hand the shirts in great condition and I can resell it for a decent price. Whatever I decide I really appreciate the level of detail in your response!
No worries friend, if you do dye ofc post it ❤️ but I have absolutely been in the same position and ended up selling before bc you just never know with dye.