How I Ice Dyed Fabric and Turned It into a Dress
I haven't ice dyed fabric since 2019... but I remember it having beautiful results. So I knew that I wanted to try it again and turn it into a piece of clothing!
To ice dye, I gathered:
- 3 yards of Rayon Linen Slub from Hobby Lobby
- Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dye
- Dyer's Detergent
- Soda Ash
- Large plastic tote box
- Dish drainer
- Clothes drying rack
- Bags and bags of ice
To begin, I pre-washed my fabric. I did the measurement that is written on the Dyer's Detergent (1/4 cup) and, since I didn't find a measurement for the soda ash, I just googled it. Google said 1/2 a cup for a full load. This was a mistake. I should not have used the two together, and 3 yards of fabric also does not make a full load.... (Now as I'm looking at the Dyer's Detergent shop page, it says use 2 tbsp of soda ash per wash load... oops!)
We had a big mess to clean up.
We got rid of as much of the soapiness as possible and the spun out the rest. Then, we did another cycle of rinse and spin just to make sure it was all out. I then put it on the drying rack to air dry.
The next day, I got ready to dye! I put the dish drainer upside down in the plastic tote to create a bit of space between the bottom and the fabric. I then dampened the fabric and scrunched it up organically. Then comes the fun part. A layer of ice, a layer of powder dye, a layer of ice, a layer of powder dye. Now, the dye looks like it's all one color, but as the ice melts, it splits the dye up into different colors!
Now we just let it sit and melt!
After several hours, I did start to get nervous because my fabric looked like it was completely saturated, black, and muddy. I should have just trusted the process and let it continue to sit, but like I said, I haven't done this in years. I also may have done too much dye, but we will never know since I took it out early!
Once it out of the ice, I transferred it to our utility sink. It looked so dark and muddy, I was so worried I had ruined it. I started rinsing it in cold water, initially letting it just sit with the water running over it. The runoff was dark purple. As I let it rinse longer, I started seeing the other colors come through. It took me about an hour of sitting in the water, squeezing, and rearranging the fabric to let another part be under the water. It went from dark purple, to magenta, to finally a light purple and then clear.
At this point, it was still fairly saturated in color, but no longer muddy. I put it in the washer with some more dyer's detergent to do a final wash and dry.
It faded quite a bit in the wash, but it faded into colors that are PERFECT for spring, which is why I made it into my Easter dress!
I chose the Isla Dress by Gold & Skye. It's not the best pattern I've ever sewn. The instructions were confusing in bits, and I'm not sure if it's my body or drafting errors, but the torso just looks a bit strange. Only I will notice it though, I am my own worst critic! It's very, very comfortable to wear though, and for that, I am very appreciative!
Next time I ice dye (because I have plenty left), I will make sure to not use as much soda ash, trust the process and let it sit until the ice is fully melted, and probably not use as much ice and dye either. You better believe I will be doing this again though, because the results are phenomenal!
Dharma Trading Co. also gave me a free gift as a first time customer of a small silk scarf. This was in the same dye tub as the rayon linen slub and it came out COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY. I think it's because of the different fabric composition! SO COOL!!!
If you want to follow along with my dye experiments, make sure you’re signed up for my newsletter. I’ll be sharing my avocado dye results next week.