Project Overview/Tutorial: Dyeing melton wool yardage

[labricoleuse]

One of the projects that our Costume Production and Technology MFA students must complete in their third year of study is a historical reproduction. They choose a garment from our extensive vintage and antique clothing archive (perhaps 10% of which is searchable online at the CoStar site[1]), study it at length, reproduce it exactly with new

Comments

[trystbat]

Or suppose, at a later date, someone decided they needed a skirt to match that reproduced jacket. Awesome idea to have the mixing ticket!

[labricoleuse]

I would be so pissed if that happened! One would hope a designer would know from the get-go that there was to be a skirt constructed as well, and buy enough fabric from the beginning--dyeing two lots that are supposed to match and be used in the same garment is a touchy process for almost any dyer, and extremely difficult. Honestly, if a student decided something like that after the fact, they'd have to dye it themselves, because it'd be a personal project at that point. I'd provide the mixing ticket as a reference, but it would probably become a learning experience in how much of an enormous PITA match-dyeing two lots of wool can be. :D

[trystbat]

Well, yeah, still a PITA, but a lot less of one w/the details written out :-) I'm just thinking that if a designer saw the original vintage piece & said "hey, that'd be perfect for my show as a whole suit." Then a shop could pull the reproduced jacket & match a skirt or, perhaps easier, reproduce the jacket again, this time w/a matching jacket. At least the color work has already been documented, so you're one step ahead of the game, which I think is awfully cool!

help!

[anonymous]

i was referred to your entry by an ebay member who sold me a wool trenchcoat for my costume as the joker. she said she used your instructions and was able to successfully dye wool on her own. my question is if i could dye the coat in my bathtub. i don't have an industrial dye vat and i don't know how i could control the temperatures as you did. i could really use some guidance if you'd be willing to offer it soon. :) thanks!

~lissa

Re: help!

[labricoleuse]

Honestly, i don't think you could do this process in a bathtub. The heat control is key.

However! I think in your situation what i would try is food-color bag-dyeing using a big clear plastic bag on a sunny day. You can read an overview of how to do it here:

http://www.woolfestival.com/articles/koolaid.htm

...which is geared toward people dyeing wool (for spinning/knitting) but ought to work for a garment, too. I would think that Wyler's or Kool-Aid in "grape" would be good for the Joker.

Good luck, and happy Halloween!

Just saying "hi" from the Gold Coast, Australia - Looking Forward To Getting Involved.

[anonymous]

Thanks...this looks really interesting. I am looking forward to having my say!