Indigo, Wine and Eggplant: Dyeing Fabric Insights

I spent the day dying different cotton fabrics in different colors. It was a test run for some new colors…two were good, one, not so much.

The above samples were good, but I preferred the clarity and saturation of the indigo on the white cotton…on the right. The muslin, an off white tone, took the dye but was not as saturated. They were dyed in the same low immersion bath, i.e., the same bag.

The next image shows the eggplant color in the baggie, sitting in the sun brewing away. I like the low immersion method as it is not as messy, uses less water, and produces a nice mottled look. I scrunch and place the fabric in the bag without much agitation to achieve this look. If I want a more consistent color across the yardage, I will manipulate the fabric frequently, turning and rearranging. As you can see, I was going for variation.

The third dye I tried was a WINE color. I really didn’t care for the result as it veered toward the pink, not a deeper, fuller red wine color. I tried to overdye it using a deep yellow color and ended up with a better fabric, but not quite the depth of color I desired. Here it is in the second dye bath.

This is how both the eggplant and the overdyed fabric turned out. I like them both and will use then for printing and for wrapping my textile or painted artwork.

It was a try and sample day and I am happy with the results and with what I learned…from the studio