My Way

This is my tutorial for dyeing over the rack....I begin by soaking the fabric in a dye activator solution for 15 minutes....spin out the excess in the washer (careful not to let any rinse water in during the spin...all washers are different), and place it over the rack, evenly on both sides. I start dripping dyes from the top, making sure to get both sides with the colors. On this piece I started with sun and lemon yellows. The first colors soak up quickly, so don't be stingy....you want saturation.

Next I added soft orange and golden yellow, filling in spaces AND going over previous colors. As the fabric saturates, the colors will flow more freely, so watch the progress so you don't have a lot of waste that just drips off the fabric.

Last two colors were deep orange and fire red. I again dripped from the top...I get better lines that way...if you squirt crosswise you won't get that nice directional striation. ***With the linen/rayon fabric that I use, and sometimes the cotton canvas, you will notice fuzzy looking areas as you go....they will be areas where the dye was not the heaviest...like halo areas...and you want to get more dye on these areas or that area on the finished fabric will not be as pleasing. (Remember...these are my experiences...my best advice...you may be looking for a different look).

So I really saturated with the last two dyes....I wanted every area to be sufficiently full.

Then I scrunch the piece together and lightly squeeze from top to bottom...take it off the rack carefully and lay it on a large plastic tarp in the sun.

I leave it pleated for a couple hours...that's the orange linen, and a piece of cotton canvas on the right...done the same way with turquoise, intense blue, bubble gum, amethyst, and deep purple.

Then I open the pieces as space will allow and let it dry in the sun....ideally another couple hours. Then I wash (multiple...till water runs clear), dry and iron.

Here are the two finished pieces. I hope this helps and answers your questions. Have fun!

Marcia