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Excess Dye, advice please
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Message 1.Â
Posted by Fire-Pig - proud to wave the protest banner (U12231213) on Thursday, 3rd May 2012
While on holiday in Turkey, I bought a cheap scarf. It is a lovely open weave and a rich tan colour BUT.....
I wore it yesterday, and received several compliments, however when I got undressed I discovered that it had left stains on my T-shirt and my cardigan (55% cotton, 25%nylon, 20% wool)
I have two questions:
1) What would be the best way of getting the stains off my clothes, particularly the cardigan?
2) Is there a way of setting the colour? The scarf feels as if it is cotton, but does not have any label.
THanks in advance
F-P -
Message 2
Posted by Lili Bolero and the band played on (U10534540) on Thursday, 3rd May 2012
Hi Fire-Pig. I don't know the answer to the second part of your query, but I have successfully used Stain Devils products for removing colour which has run from another garment. You can get them in most stupourmarkets.
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Message 3
Posted by gigglemahanaz2 (U14257954) on Thursday, 3rd May 2012
Fire pig it may be worth your while soaking the scarf in cold salted water to set the dye.
As for the stains on the jumper and cardi than Stain devil or that Oxi stuff.........Lakeland do some good stain removal stuff as well but the name escapes me for the moment! -
Message 4
Posted by Miftrefs Laura in Lothian bufily ftitching (U2587870) on Friday, 4th May 2012
f-p,
I know the problem with lovely and loved clothing bought abroad - I've never got over putting a red sleeveless top and cardigan bought in Hong Kong into a hand-wash and the water instantly turning crimson and cloudy like blood - very unnerving!!!
the main thing with any stain is to avoid a) drying and b) heat until the stain is as gone as possible.
The t-shirt is the easy one, I think - get it into a bucket of cool water and leave it there for 24 hours. Rinse, then wash on a cool setting - easier in fact to hand-wash and see how it's going. If it's still obvious, stick it back in the water for another soak. You could use Biotex in hand-hot water (30-40 degrees is the best for Biotex to function, not very hot) and soak overnight. Once you have the 'loose' dye out (so it can't go on to stain other things) you can always just include it in every low-temp machine-wash you do. I once got a LOT of very dark chocolate melted right into a cotton top (a whole bar left lying on it in the sun, not found for a few hot sunny days...), and after basic first-aid, for a couple of weeks it just went in every wash and in between was in a bucket of cold water - it took a while but worked!
The cardigan is trickier because theoretically you shouldn't soak wool - but it is only 20% wool, and if it's un-wearably stained then you have nothing to lose... try a shorter soaking, hand-wash, then soak again. What colour is the cardigan? If it's very pale, you may never get it out... add a small mug or teacup of white vinegar to the soaking water as it's a very mild bleach that shouldn't damage the wool.
Setting the colour - salt and vinegar work if you are applying dye, but won't do anything much to something already dyed, I'm afraid.
The main thing to do is ONLY use cold water, and to give it half a dozen good long hand-washes, letting it dry between them, to get the worst of the excess dye out without fading it too much. Then try wearing it with an old t-shirt that can be sacrificed if it still bleeds dye - in which case more cold-water hand-washing, I'm afraid!
Try those... good luck! As I say, I loved that top and cardigan but the inconvenience eventually won out...
laura -
Message 5
Posted by Fire-Pig - proud to wave the protest banner (U12231213) on Friday, 4th May 2012
Thanks Laura, I was hoping you would come in on this!
The cardigan is a fawn colour, as I wore it over the scarf most of the stains are on the roll collar and on the inside. They make it look grubby. I think I will still be able to wear it after a bit of treatment.
There are far more stains on the T-shirt, so I will start the soaking and see where we get to!
I'll try to rescue the scarf as well.
Thanks also to giggle and Lili
F-P -
Message 6
Posted by Fire-Pig - proud to wave the protest banner (U12231213) on Tuesday, 15th May 2012
The t-shirt and the jacket are now fine, thanks for your advice.
I am wearing the scarf for the first time since my previous posting. Today I am wearing it with an ancient cream silk shirt and I can't see any residue coming off the scarf!
F-P -
Message 7
Posted by Miftrefs Laura in Lothian bufily ftitching (U2587870) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
Yahay!
I met a couple at the weekend who are dyers* and asked them about it. They confirmed that vinegar is useful /during/ original dyeing but no use afterwards, but oddly it turns out salt isn't used in traditional hand-done dyeing other than for Dylon. But anyway they said what was in this thread was the best advice: just keep washing it til the water runs clear and be aware for the future that it could start up again if circumstances change ie if you travel to somewhere very hot and humid for example.
Glad to know it's all resurrected!
laura
*you do get to have lots of fun phrasing that deliberately wrongly - "they dye for a living", being one of my faves! -
Message 8
Posted by Sixties Relic SAVE ML (U13777237) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
"Fire pig it may be worth your while soaking the scarf in cold salted water to set the dye."
A bucket of stake urine might do the trick, too........ -
Message 9
Posted by Auntie Prue (U14585893) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
Heat sets dye.
If it is cotton:
Rinse scarf out in hot water several times, and then iron on appropriate heat. -
Message 10
Posted by Sixties Relic SAVE ML (U13777237) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
This sounds less disgusting than my stale urine remedy..............
I understand* that the House of Lords used to stink of wee-wee as urine was used to fix the dye in Harris Tweed at one time. But this is no longer used.
*all my knowledge comes from QI these days. -
Message 11
Posted by Miftrefs Laura in Lothian bufily ftitching (U2587870) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
Urine doesn't smell of wee-wee by the time it's used as a dye fixative. It smells oddly of swimming-pools which confused me til I met a water engineer at a party one night who told me her job with a self-deprecatory shrug of "nobody's ever interested" and couldn't believe her luck when I wanted to know about the chemicals in water and that led to the discussion of non-water aspects and she was able to explain to me that once the proteins break down (about three weeks) what you are left with is basically a mild solution of ammonia.
It's another of those modern ideas about how "everyone and everything in the past used to stink" - no, they didn't immerse themselves in baths of hot water, but they washed themselves and the 15th to 18th centuries had hundreds of recipes for herbal body-washes and not one recipe for deodorant...
QI ought to know better
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Message 12
Posted by Auntie Prue (U14585893) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
I have a friend who is a well known dyer with woad - for which urine is used as part of the process. I can assure you it stinks to high heaven when in use - so much so that Elizabeth I would not allow woad dying anywhere near her palaces : )
My friend lives on a farm and is able to use polytunnels well away from the house! -
Message 13
Posted by Lili Bolero and the band played on (U10534540) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
I always thought that the urban myth was that Chlorine in swimming pools doesn't smell ... until it is in contact with urine.
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Message 14
Posted by Sixties Relic SAVE ML (U13777237) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
"It's another of those modern ideas about how "everyone and everything in the past used to stink""
Well I remember the 1950s and everyone did stink. BO. Pre-deodorants.
A bus journey was an olifactory horribleness on a hot day. -
Message 15
Posted by Miftrefs Laura in Lothian bufily ftitching (U2587870) on Wednesday, 16th May 2012
Yep, and the 1950s was a very different way of life from what I mentioned: -)
"15th to 18th centuries" - before the bulk urbanisation meaning everyone living crammed together without decent daylight and air, but after the worst of the plagues and lurgies and pestilences.... not a "Golden Age", but considerably less stinky than after the Industrial Revolution hit! -
Message 16
Posted by Sixties Relic SAVE ML (U13777237) on Thursday, 17th May 2012
I have been amazed to see, up in Orkney where I go digging every summer, that the neolitihic village at Scara Brae has en-suite loos with running water - well, a sort of side cubby-hole to the houses with a stream running underneath. And the houses are semi-buried in midden material to keep everyone warm.
And that was 5000 years ago.
Mind you, if I were in Orkney in the middle of winter with a gale blowing, I wouldn't fancy going outside.
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