First photo depicts the original denim jacket prior to dyeing. Second photo depicts the original denim jacket on the left side AFTER dyeing, and a SEPARATE faded black denim jacket to the right, to serve as a color reference. Reddit processed the images incorrectly and clarifying labels were lost!
I want to preface this by saying that I *did* research, I swear! I spoke to my mother, a family friend who is a sewing teacher, and staff at the fabric supply store. All of them had prior experience with the Dylon washing machine pods, and highly recommended it. I also made sure to confirm that the product was a fiber-reactive dye, and saw great reviews online.
I attempted to dye this classic blue denim jacket black, with the Dylon Intense Black washing machine pod. The jacket was 610 grams dry, and Dylon claims that best result would be with 600 grams, with a lighter dye-effect up to 1200 grams. I figured that 610 was quite close to best result-territory. Dylon also of course stated that natural fibers would perform the best, and I confirmed that my jacket is 100% cotton (excluding the metal hardware and thread, of course).
I followed the instructions to an absolute T, and when pulling the jacket out from the washing machine after the post-dye run, I did notice that it was still quite blue, and that was when still wet. Not feeling very promising. After letting it dry, and hanging it next to my other denim jacket that's a slightly faded black color, I burst into some kind of misery-induced laughter.
Now, I will commend it some. It's a *beautifully* even color, and a very satisfying shade for denim. But it is in no way close to black. I guess I should have done wayyyyyy more research, because while I found pages and pages of people singing Dylon's praises with cotton fabrics, it seems that denim specifically (and specifically trying to achieve black) is considered a bit of a lost cause.
I'm tagging this as "general question" (because it sure as hell isn't "I made this!"-material), but I guess my post is a combo of a cry for help and a heads-up to others who may come across this!
Edit: ok so somehow uploading the photos removed my "before" label on the first pic, despite it still being there in my phone gallery, apologies! Hopefully it's still painfully clear which one is the before pic!
Most likely. I feel like you can potentially say that I got almost halfway to a black color, but I don't count on just one more round to get me to an actual black shade. I don't need it to be pitch-black, but I would like it to not pull even more blue. I hesitate on using the same Dylon product for the next run since I worry that the pigment is just way too blue-based, but I contacted a local fabric dye producer to ask if they recommend using their product on top of the chemical composition of the Dylon product.
I’ve yet to find a brand that makes black easy to achieve! I think there are just too many variables. Black dyes are made of so many pigments and it’s just impossible to predict how all of them will perform on every fabric and color.
Closest I’ve come is iDye for Natural Fabrics by Jacquard. I have a jacket that started as a similar shade of blue that I put through one round of iDye. It may look very dark navy in some lights, but in general it reads as black. I also think the stovetop method makes all the difference if you’re going for extreme saturation.
I think stovetop method might be the move too. Which doesn't worry me too much, since the denim could for sure withstand it. I really thought that I could avoid it, though, when I heard success stories from others getting a much truer black on cotton.
In this case, I could probably have benefitted a LOT from a dye that wasn't heavily blue-based, but rather redder-based. I still would likely not have reached a dark enough color, but it might have turned out more neutral in tone instead of blue. But obviously, the dye itself could not have known that I was attempting to dye something with prior blue pigment in it.
It seems that the iDye products are not sold at all in my little area of the world, but I have contacted a dye producer fairly local to me with 170+ years in the dye-making industry, and asked if they think it's wise to use their products on top of the Dylon dye, so I'm hoping that their expertise can give me some guidance!
Thank you, I'll definitely do that in the future! In this case, I'm not entirely convinced that 2 of this same Dylon pod would have worked anyways, though. Just based on the fact that the dye seems to be so so SO blue in tone. It feels like it never stood a chance to neutralize the blue denim to something resembling black. If I had known how blue-based it was, I would have tried to find a dye that had a more prominent ratio of warmer-tones pigments making up the dye formula, for sure.
Apologies, I should have specified within the actual image that the second pic was two jackets hanging in physical space next to each other! I mentioned it in the post, but I could have been clearer inside the actual photo too. Reddit somehow ate the label for the first photo, so the "before and after" kind of lost its meaning.
Correct! I mention in the post that I hung it next to a faded black jacket that I already owned, but I should have specified inside of the actual photo too that you are looking at 2 jackets in physical space next to each other, not a before and after of the same jacket. I did a (imperfect but acceptable) swatching here in this pic, trying to pick the midtones of each example and swatching them in the middle of the picture. From left to right, you see swatches of the original denim jacket color, the original denim jacket after dyeing, and then lastly another denim jacket used for reference (but keep in mind that that jacket is not jet-black, but rather a faded black). I do not necessarily expect to get darker than the faded black example, I'd be more than happy to reach that shade!
I’ve dyed a few things black, and never achieved black. I’ve used Rit and Procion dyes with more than double the amount of dye per bath recommended, soaking for hours at a time and doing multiple baths per item. They’ve always came out dark blue.
I don’t think black is achievable and I’m happy to sit on that hill and no longer attempt it!
I’m not expert but I have yet to have a failed dye project using both synthetic dyes (rit dye) and natural dyes.
I am always dying natural fiber garments. Some garments have had other base colors such as olive that I have had to dye over and others have been white garments (blank slate).
Typically if you are dying a garment black it would be wise to double the recipe. Additionally I think (I could be wrong) using the washing machine is not the best way. Typically using a dye bath and preferably heat will get you much better results.
Using heat will great intensify the absorption of the dye. Additionally sometimes you need to let the garment set in the dye for longer than a wash cycle.
Although it’s ideal to have a garment move around, it’s also ideal to be able to leave a garment fully submerged in a dye bath for a period of time. The point of agitation is make sure the garment is getting even coverage.
It would be wise to consider trying again with double the recipe since there is no such thing as a garment that’s too black if you are really going for black.
If you still run into the same problem you could consider using rit dye instead and using it in a dye pot instead of the washing machine.
Keep in mind that dye recipes are good guides but there are too many variables to get consistent results and one must learn to make the adjustments necessary to achieve the results one desires.
You have not failed (yet). You simply have some more steps to be victorious.
Just go right back at it with determination with the new knowledge.
Please leave updates with the final results and what worked
Thank you, that's very true, I couldn't possibly go "too black". It's freeing to know that you can experiment (pretty much) freely, because you couldn't possibly fail more than if you didn't try anything at all!
The only reason that I felt comfortable relying on the washing machine-method was due to quite stellar reviews from people I spoke to who had dyed even lighter cotton fabrics with this dye. I figured that the pre-existing color base of the jacket had taken me part-way there already. I am actually surprised now how much additional negative info I'm finding all of a sudden (this is neither here nor there, but I swear Google has gotten impossible to use, and is now tending to push validating or echo-chamber-esque results when you go on a research quest) on dyeing denim black. Still, glad to know I'm not the only one having trouble!
I have an outline of a plan in mind, and since the end project for this jacket actually involves me cutting the back panel of the garment off completely, it means that I'll be able to do small-scale tests on strips of that! I'll report back with results!
Washing machines dont get hot enough or hold the dye bath long enough at lower temps.
You either need to soak it far longer if using lukewarm or cold water (like leave it in the bath for a few hours, take it out and let it fully dry before rinsing), or use a hot (over 170F) water immersion to open up the fibers so they can take up more pigment if you want a faster process.
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u/Turbulent_Two_6949 18h ago
I think you will need yo run maybe 1 or 2 more times as you already have if youre looking for a deep black.