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Dye Tutorials

Dye Safety - Scouring Osnaburg - Stripping Color - Soda Ash - Color Theory - Tutorials - Dyed Baby Carriers on Facebook

All of the information on this page was assembled in collaboration with the Facebook group Dyed Baby Carriers. If you have more questions regarding dyeing your baby carrier, join their group for assistance!

General Reference Websites

Paula Burch: All About Hand Dyeing

Lots of info about different dye techniques
Includes non-babywearing-specific techniques, so not all may be safe
Beware of methods using unsafe dyes or bleach

Dharma Trading Co

Lots of different techniques explained
Sells extremely high quality and safe dye

Vat Dye/Tub Dye/Immersion Dye

A vat dye is a simple method that results in solid coverage with one color.

Acid Dyeing is a method of vat dyeing necessary when dyeing animal fiber, like silk or wool. Doing a regular dye with soda ash on silk or wool is very harsh and may ruin the texture.

Gradient Dye/Ombre

A grad dye is a way to fade one or more colors across the length or width of a wrap.

Low Water Immersion

This method results in a splotchy, uneven almost marbled color pattern.

Ice Dye

Similar to low water immersion, ice dying allows for a splotchy, uneven color pattern, but gives you more control over color placement. This technique is popularly used with jewel tones combined with black in order to achieve a "galaxy" look.

Dharma Trading Co - Ice/Snow Dyeing
Happy Wrappings - Ice Dyed SSC
Video on how to scrunch fabric for an ice dye (visible only to Dyed Baby Carrier group members)
Text Tutorial - Ice Dye (visible only to Dyed Baby Carrier group members)

Resist Dyeing

Resist dyeing uses wax, glue, or string to create a "resist," allowing certain areas of the fabric to remain untouched by dye.

Batik

Glue Resist

A Bushel n a Peck - Glue Resist Dyeing

Shibori

Art Threads Shibori
Kaizen Journey - Itajime Shibori Process
RIT Shibori Pole-wrapping Technique (side note: RIT dyes are not recommended for baby carriers)
File Under Fiber - Shibori Circles
HonestlyWTF - DIY Shibori
Design Sponge - Shibori Designes 4 Ways
Silk Shibori Blog (several shibori posts)
Brenda Gael Smith blog (several shibori posts)

Tie Dye

Marble Dyeing

Using shaving cream to "swirl" the dye gives a marbled texture.

Dharma Trading Co Shaving Cream Dyeing
Marble Rainbow Shaving Cream Dye (visible to Dyed Baby Carrier group members only)

Painting with Thickened Dye

Painting with thickened fiber reactive dye will give you the control of paint without the stiff texture often associated with it. This is great for places where you want a design or just need to "spot-dye" - for example, painting dye onto the straps of a structured carrier to counteract fading without harming the design on the body panel.