Trying to dye...

Ok so that may sound a little weird, and even one of my tweets yesterday was odd....mostly because I misspelled dyeing. My husband was quite bereft when I stated that dying was on the list of things to do. Ooops. :) I'm happy to share this dyeing adventure though!

I did some research after my mishap, but what I want to accomplish was a gradated color effect for the pillow case. Here's the official term for that dyeing technique:

Ombré - rhymes with the Spanish word hombre, but is actually a French word meaning "shade" or "shadow". (Ombre without the fancy "é" is a very old card game!)

It was my first time actually dyeing anything (tie dye does not count, because I have never successfully done that)....and I must say that it was fun and thank goodness for bleach. :) So on to the show!

Ombre' Dyed Pillow

What I used:
Fabric dye
French braid pillow case made out of Kona Muslin
Water
Bleach
Stainless steel mixing bowl
Garbage bag
Washing machine and detergent
Rubber gloves
Wooden spoon

What I did:
Cover your work space with the garbage bag. You don't need to dye your counter tops, unless you want to. :) Also wear your rubber gloves! I also used a wooden spoon, that I will never be using for food prep again, to stir the dye and the bleach mixtures.

I mixed up the fabric dye according to the directions. I used Tulip's fabric dye, but next time I think I may use RIT's liquid dyes so I don't waste as much dye next time. I still have Turquoise dye to use up. :)

According to the package directions you need one gallon of steaming water, and contrary to popular belief....water does boil when watched. :) 

Don't do this:
I placed the entire pillow case into the dye, stirring constantly for the first 15 minutes (per the directions), then I removed the top 1/4 of the pillow and rested it over the side of the bowl. After 15 minutes I moved another 1/4 of the pillow case out of the dye. I continued this until the hour was up for the dyeing process. This did not garner the results I was going after. I ended up with a lovely pink pillow. Solid.Pink.  Time to rinse all the dye from the pillow case and then wash it in warm water.  I cleaned my stainless steel bowl in the sink, making sure to not leave any dye in my sink.

Make sure you cover your area! It's a pretty pink, but not at all what I was trying for!

After perusing Google, I discovered what I should have done, and luckily you can interchange this process with bleach. I also discovered that there are two ways to accomplish what I wanted. So here's what I did after the pillow case came out of my washer.

Back to what you should do:

In the same stainless steel bowl that I used in the original dye process; I added 4 cups of water and 1 cup of bleach and gently mixed. I laid the 1/4 of the pillow case that I wanted the lightest into the bowl and then set my timer for 10 minutes. 

So here's the bleach solution: Before is on the left and after about 20 minutes on the right. You can definitely see the lightening. 

After 10 minutes, I added another cup of water and then put another 1/4 of the pillow case into the bowl. Let it sit for another 10 minutes. Add another 1 cup of water to the bowl, and then move another 1/4 of the  pillow case into the bowl. Let it sit for another 10 minutes. By this time you should have 3/4 of your pillow case in the bleach bowl. 

After the a total of 30 minutes has elapsed, squeeze the excess liquid from your pillow case back into your bowl and then rinse off your pillow case in the sink. I used warm water. Then it went back into the washing machine for a light wash. 

Here's the pillow case right out of the washer. I'm loving the effect! 

After ironing. You can definitely see the gradient. My technique could use practice, but this was a lot of fun! 

Notice the slight marbelling....so pretty! 

Notes

The color gradient was noticeable immediately after taking the pillow case out of the bleach. You can vary the time in the bleach, because you know the effect that you want to achieve. I think, however; that the next time I do this I will do a 3:1 ratio instead of a 4:1 ratio, but I am happy with the outcome of the pillow case. 

You can also do this process by adding more dye to the mixture instead of more water. This will create darker sections of dye as you remove the pillow, but I would not let the fabric sit in the dye for more than 5 minutes. 

If you replace dye for the bleach in the above directions, I would only let the fabric sit in the full strength dye for a few minutes, and then as you add water I would not let the fabric sit for more than 5 minutes at a time. Watch your fabric and make adjustments to the time as needed. You can always go darker, but you can't go lighter unless you pull out the bleach.

I am debating whether or not to share this, because I'm definitely going to be doing this for the next pillow.....Awww....what the hell. I think I am going to cover the stitching lines on the next pillow with sequin trim, varying the colors to match as closely as possible to the color variances on the pillow. You could also do beads...which I can still do on the pink pillow, and may well just do. I would couch the beads though, as that would go much faster. I will do another post on the beading portion later though. I have to get those beads! You should definitely do the dyeing process before the trim is added though, but I would secure the pillow sides together with a basting stitch and then dye them so you get a uniform color on both sides, or you could just dye the back of the pillow a solid color. 

I had a lot of fun with this pillow, even with the mishap! I hope you all enjoyed it too, and have a terrific day!