New World Textiles Nature's Paintbox - Dye-Lishus Cotton Yarn Dyeing Kit

Kits contain three 50 gram skeins of  Dye-Lishus® cotton yarn, three bottles of Aquarelle liquid natural dyes in lac (pink), fustic (yellow), Saxon blue, and instructions.

5/2 skeins are 235 yards

Dye-Lishus® Cotton

What it is:

Dye-Lishus® cotton is undyed, PFD Plus cotton that has been pre-treated to attract and hold dyes without the use of extra chemicals. It is pre-scoured, pre-mordanted, and pre-patterned.

How it works:

The cotton is treated in the fiber form before being spun or woven. It is essentially scoured and mordanted in preparation for dyeing before it goes to the mill. Woven side by side with untreated cotton, the Dye-Lishus® cotton yarn will accept the dye and the untreated cotton may stay white or may take on a pale tint, depending on the dye and the concentration. Using it with untreated cotton allows the development of woven pattern. After dyeing the cloth, the fabric looks the same as yarn dyed cloth.

What dyes to use:

Acid dyes. Acid dyes are commonly used on silk and wool, not cotton, but they work on Dye-Lishus® cotton.

Direct dyes, such as Cushings.

Fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX.

Natural dyes. Extracts and liquid forms are available, or collect your own. Any book on natural dyes will have a list of suitable natural sources and will explain how to harvest and extract the dyestuff.

Union dyes, such as Rit,  Dylon, iDye. Union dyes contain both acid and direct dyes , the acid component usually wasted on cotton. In the case of Dye-Lishus® cotton, both are taken up. The fabrics, with treated and utreated, will show light and dark. The light areas will have taken up just the direct, and the darker areas will have taken up both the acid and direct.

How to dye it:

Simply wash the yarn or fabric in hot soapy water. For a really quick wetting out, make a solution of 1 part alcohol to 2 parts water. Isopropyl alcohol at 70% is fine. Submerge the fiber, then rinse. 

Add dye to warm tap water and enter the wet fiber. You need much less dye than usual; if you are using natural dyes, you can use the amount caled for in a wool recipe.

For sliver, use 1/2 or less dye than the dye package instructions suggest.

For yarn, use 1/4 or less dye.

For the fabrics, use 1/8 on the semisolid and 1/16 on the others.

Stir and soak for 15 minutes, longer soak time is fine

Rinse, dry, done!