Weavers Guild of MN

Hand-dyeing your own fibers can be intimidating. How do you know which dye to use?  Heat or no heat? Salt? Acid? This class will break it down into the chemistry you need to know. Using commercial dyes, we will dye small samples of yarn and fabrics in cotton, silk, nylon, wool and more. Get the specifics for which dye to use when, the process you need for each kind of fiber, how to get the colors and effects you want and most especially how to work with dyes in ways that are safe and earth-friendly. Finally, learn some troubleshooting techniques for when things don’t come out the way you envisioned and dispel some dyers “old wives’ tales”.

Hand-dyeing your own fibers can be intimidating. How do you know which dye to use?  Heat or no heat? Salt? Acid? This class will break it down into the chemistry you need to know. Using commercial dyes, we will dye small samples of yarn and fabrics in cotton, silk, nylon, wool and more. Get the specifics for which dye to use when, the process you need for each kind of fiber, how to get the colors and effects you want and most especially how to work with dyes in ways that are safe and earth-friendly. Finally, learn some troubleshooting techniques for when things don’t come out the way you envisioned and dispel some dyers “old wives’ tales”.

Learn the basics of dyeing six different kinds of fibers - wool, alpaca, silk, cotton, bamboo and linen. For each fiber, you'll dye several samples while learning how to mix, process, set, and rinse the colors using both fiber reactive and acid dyes. Practice color mixing and discover the ways that the same colors can be combined to achieve different results. For this class, we'll work with yarns, but the same techniques would apply to dyeing fabrics made from the same materials. Finally, using your samples as reference, dye your own skein in a colorway you design. Supplies Note: Bring one skein of yarn in your choice of fibers. Cotton, linen, wool, alpaca, silk, nylon or bamboo. Any combinations of these fibers is fine. (Up to 10% of any other fiber is fine.) Any weight yarn is fine (bulky, worsted, fingering, DK etc) Skeins should be standard sized (approx 2-3 oz) Your skein should be white, cream or a light color. If your yarn is in a ball, please rewind it into a skein before you come to class. Disposable gloves will be provided, but if you have reusable gloves (like the kind you use for doing dishes) you [read more...]