LOVE the shape. Hate the color. It fits pretty well, although it could be accused of being 1/2 size too big.
The plan is to dye it, but I've never dyed anything before. It's this beige that just about matches my skin tone, and I'm thinking:
1) darken it ... with brown or black dye?
2) warm it up ... go for a persimmony with orange maybe? if I threw red into the pot, do we think I'd get some tomato-y fall-ish hue? magenta is an interesting dark horse "that could be interesting or really, really bad" consideration as well.
3) other: (please suggest!)
So my questions to you are,
What color should I dye it? I'm guessing that the best I can hope for is a tinting instead of a true overdye, because ...
How should I dye a 100% wool sweater that doesn't have a whole lot of room to shrink? If I mess up my roommate is one size smaller than me, and if I really mess up then we have another friend who is 2 sizes smaller than me ... but, selfishly, I've been looking for this type of sweater forever now, I'll probably never stitch one up for myself (either sewing or knitting ... DEFINITELY not knitting!) Gentle mixing? Bubble it up to a high heat and then dunk in the sweater and turn off the heat and let it sit for a couple days?
Do you have experience with this type of thing? Know of any good links you can point me to?
Ideas and suggestions greatly appreciated!!!
10 comments:
Since it's not a dark color you should be able to overdye it quite easily. I love the idea of persimmon, it sounds quite lovely.
I would do a tub soak method for your dying because agitation is the main cause of felting. Most dyes have the instructions for the method on the package.
can you use a cold water dye - I like the idea of a deeper red or aubergine shade (think that's eggplant for you). I think you need to avoid washing machine dyes. You could also try dying it with tea, or onion skins which make a reddy brown dye. They can be done cold so they wouldn't shrink the wool. I am not sure what you use to fix the dye though. Maybe you need to look at people who dye their own wool/yarns to find out more info. Love the shape of the cardigan.
Debbie EOD
I agree with the ladies above. If the cardigan is 100% wool and of a light colour, cold water dye in a tube should do the trick. I like the idea of a red/aubergine colour too. I guess it depends on what colours you have in your wardrobe already.
This may be uncalled-for, but I actually like the color and think it looks good on you. May depend on the lighting though. I'd go for persimmon, if anything.
I'm with poet...I like the color of it. It's actually a color that probably goes with more than what an orange would.
This is a tutorial I bookmarked long ago for dying yarn. It doesn't mention the yarn shrinking, but maybe try it on some scrap yarn first.
It uses Kool-Aid, so you have lots of color options!
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html
You must heat it up with the water, and avoid serious aggitation - only gently stirring is allowed. Then you can even boil wool without it shrinking. I've never tried synthetic dyes on wool, so dont know what to suggest, but a dip in indigo would probably make an interesting green....
Stick with that nice rich gold color -- don't mess with dying it. Didn't you say not long ago that your wardrobe tends toward too many dark colors already? I think it looks lovely on you just as it is!
Thank you everyone for your comments!
For all those who think I shouldn't dye it -- it's more of a camel color than anything, which, in theory, is a fantastically versatile color. Unfortunately, in practice, such blouses/sweaters make me look really washed out and pasty, so I'm afraid I do need to dye it. I hadn't realized you could "cold dye" though, thank you for that tip!
I'll keep you all posted!
I can't wait to see what you come up with.
I did a bit of berry dyeing last year (elder berries) http://roued.com/greyduckling/bubbly-berry-skirt/
and I loved how it turned out and how it smelled. Ok so I'm probably weird like that.
But the thing with natural dyes is that - yes they may fade - but then you can transform them into another colour the next year.
Leaving wool in very hot water is not a problem as long as you don't agitate. Hot water is not enough to felt on it's own.
I'm with you on the dyeing though - if you don't feel that the colour suits you (which I am not saying it doesn't) then you should definitely give dyeing a go.
Eddie
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