Textile colour / Batik colour dye

If you want to freshen up your clothes with beautiful colours and exciting patterns, batik dye is a great place to start your experiments. Most of us are familiar with batik textiles from the 70s, when they made their debut in fashion, but over time they have reappeared periodically and are currently all the rage. That's why you'll find a whole rainbow of different colours to create beautiful patterns in brilliant colours at home.

Colour for clothes - In tune with the spirit of the times

At the moment, the world's attention is focused on sustainability and the environment. That means we're constantly looking for ways to get more out of less. In fashion, this has led to concepts like;

• Slowfashion
• Visible mending
• Conscious fashion

All are concepts created to get us thinking creatively if we get a small hole or stain on our favourite sweater, and this very thinking is in line with the use of clothing dyes to give tired textiles new life.

What is textile dye?

Textile dyes are dyes specially made for dyeing clothes and other textiles. It is therefore also called laundry dye or fabric dye. It comes in many different forms and can be used both for dyeing clothes by hand and as a machine dye, which is textile dye for washing machines.

You can divide your textile dyes into two different categories:

• Textile dye for machine washing
• Textile dye for hand dyeing

Textile dye for wool has a composition that binds to the natural fibres and the result of your garment dyeing depends entirely on choosing the right kind of dye, otherwise the fabric will not take.

Garment dyeing in mixed fabrics

If you have a garment made from 60% cotton and 40% nylon, it won't be possible - or optimal - to try dyeing it a different colour to the original, but you can successfully refresh the original colour both by hand or machine. Always choose a colour that binds to the fibre that is most present in the item to be dyed. So in the case above, choose a colour that binds to cotton for the best result.

How do you dye clothes?

Instructions for use are always included when you buy batik or textile dyes from us, and you should always follow them to make sure you get the best out of the dye. However, there's a big difference between dyeing in a machine for an even, solid result and playing around with batik dyes to make patterns on your textiles.

We've put together a short guide to the most popular techniques to make it easier for you to get started dyeing clothes.

Machine dyeing

Machine dyeing clothes is both easy and quick to do. The machine will do most of the work for you, so you can safely dye your fabrics this way. With most colours, all you need to do is rinse the clothes and put them wet in the machine along with the dye and salt and press start. When the machine is finished, you'll have a piece of textile in a brand new colour.

When dyeing in the machine, it's important to remember that you should always make sure to do one or two dark washes after using black textile dye or other dark tones in particular, as they can rub off on a white wash. In addition, you should also wash the newly dyed textiles separately or with similar colours to make sure it doesn't rub off.

Everything you need to know about batik dyes

There are endless possibilities to have fun with batik dye while giving your old clothes new life and colour. We stock a wide range of beautiful colours, so you can create works of art with the whole rainbow. Read on below and get inspired by the different techniques and information about batik dyeing.

Colour theory

You don't really need all those different colours if you've got the basics down. However, it can be useful if you need to dye several things or want to make sure you hit the right colour every time. If you want to experiment with colour theory, invest in three colours to get started:

• Red
• Yellow
• Blue

These colours are also known as the three primary colours, which means you can't mix them up using other colours. With the three, however, you can mix your way to all other colours in the palette and colour wheel as follows:

• Red + yellow = orange
• Yellow + blue = green
• Blue + red = purple
• Red + yellow + blue = brown

If you decide to experiment, you may want to use a piece of paper or white canvas to check the colour, as it can be difficult to see because it will be so dark.

Make your own t-shirt with batik dye

There are so many ways to make beautiful and fun t-shirts with batik dye, and it's a great opportunity to explore the different techniques before moving on to big projects with textile dyes.

Batik dye and textile dye in hand wash

If you're only dyeing one piece of clothing and don't want to put it in the washing machine, you can use the regular dye for clothes in the sink. It's both easy and fun - plus it gives you the chance to decide how dark you want the colour. Follow these simple steps and see how your clothes can be given a new lease of life:

• Wet your clothes under the tap and gently wring them out so they're wet but not soaked. This will ensure that the colour is more evenly distributed and that you don't get any stains on the fabric.
• Now you can attach elastics, fold or tie the fabric to create different patterns. The more places you tie the fabric in, the more bright areas there will be.
• Mix water, textile dye and salt in a bucket according to the instructions and stir well with a long-handled spoon to dissolve completely.
• Now soak your t-shirt, making sure it is completely covered in water.
• Stir the water regularly throughout the process.
• Leave your t-shirt in the dye bath for between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on how intense you want the colour to be. The longer it sits in the water, the darker it will get.

Make sure you rinse the garment really well after dyeing and give it a spin in the washing machine if necessary to make sure you've got rid of all the excess colour.

How to batik dye

When batik dyeing, the most fun part of the process is creating different patterns on the fabric. You can choose from a number of different ways to bring out the patterns, all of which give very different looks to your textiles. You can't create tight stripes and patterns, but you do create organic and vibrant patterns.

Elastics

You can make circles of all sizes with rubber bands. Lift a piece of the t-shirt with your thumb and forefinger and wrap an elastic around it to form a 'tut'. Where the elastic sits there will be a lightly or not at all coloured circle. Make several inside each other and preferably in several different sizes spread over the whole blouse. It makes a nice and interesting pattern

String

If you don't have elastic bands to hand, you can also use string to tie around the blouse in different ways. You don't have to settle for 'tatting', you can also tie the string all the way around the blouse horizontally to create stripes. Remember that the tighter you tie the string, the whiter the stripes will be. If you tie several times around, you can create wide stripes, while a single cord gives a very narrow stripe of white in colour.

Folder

You can also do something as simple as folding the fabric before dyeing it. All you have to do is gently lay the fabric down in the dye once you've folded it, then leave it there without moving it before picking it up again.

Dipdye

By getting your t-shirt wet and dipping part of it into the dye rather than dipping the whole thing, you can create the hip dipdye effect, which means the colour is strongest where it lies in the dye but gets lighter and lighter upwards. If you like, hang the wet t-shirt on a hanger and let the bottom hit the water so that the colour slowly soaks in, creating a fluid transition.

Dyeing with bottles with spouts

If you want to try a more advanced technique, pour your colours into small bottles with spouts, like the ones chefs use in restaurants to drizzle dressing onto plates. Mix several different colours in each bottle and make your t-shirts in several different colours.

One of the most fun patterns to make is the spiral, which you get like this:

Place the wet t-shirt on a flat surface covered with plastic. Grab the middle of it with two fingers, as if you were going to make a 'tut', but instead you twist - without lifting. Keep twisting until your whole t-shirt is twisted into a round 'snail'. Tie a string around the snail and divide it into 'layer cake pieces' with rubber bands if necessary. Now you can distribute the colours in the 'layer cake pieces' on your t-shirt and let it dry before removing the elastic and string and rinsing it thoroughly.

The colours will now spiral all over the shirt, as you might know from the batik colours of the 70s.

Things to know about textile dyes

Before you start dyeing textiles, there are a number of things that are useful to know. You can find great textile dye deals, but with us you'll always find the best products at the best prices, so you can get started straight away instead of waiting for bargain prices. Buy batik dye from us and find everything you need in one place.

Can you dye everything with batik dye?

No. Batik and textile dyes are only suitable for dyeing natural materials such as cotton, linen, wool and silk. With most brands you can also dye blended materials, but the more synthetic fibre it contains, the lighter the colour will end up being. You can't dye blends black and navy blue because the dye can't bind enough to make the colour opaque.

What else do you need when dyeing with fabric dyes?

Fabric dye stains. That's why it's really important to make sure you cover really well before you start dyeing. You'll find gloves and aprons to help you look after your clothes while you dye, and to avoid stained fingers and nails.

It's not just you that needs covering, as the floor is exposed too. This includes wood, tiles and linoleum. A good layer of newspapers or a piece of masking tape can work wonders.

Watch out for the machine when dyeing with textile dyes

When you machine dye, it's inevitable that some dye residue will remain in the machine after washing. You may also find that there is a little dye residue on the rubber around the lid and it's a good idea to clean it off with an old toothbrush.

It's a good idea to run the machine without clothes or with a black wash after you've dyed clothes in it, this way you avoid white or light coloured fabrics becoming discoloured if there are colour residues left.

Can you dye other fabrics with batik dye?

You can dye any natural fibre with textile dye. If you have some left over, dyeing yarn is both fun and very fashionable, and textile dyes are great to experiment with if you haven't tried it before. You can choose from many different techniques, all of which give the yarn both the colour and the patterns that are so fashionable in the knitting world.

Be inspired by our great selection and find everything you need to get started with textile dyeing here.