Trial and Error: Dyeing

I do not believe there is one perfect way to achieve nirvana. Everyone has a different path! What I am trying to explain here is that there might be many ways to do a particular thing. And below is my way of dyeing a fabric! :)

what u need: fabric dye, non iodized salt, hot water, stove, wooden stick or spatula, a large aluminium vessel, pre-washed fabric that you have to dye. (I have tried only with cotton so far.)

The dye I bought from Devi Stores came in powdered form and 20 gms of powder costs 20 rupees. This quantity is enough to dye about a meter or so of the cloth.

So you take about half a bucket of boiling water and dissolve the dye and some salt in it. No wet the pre-washed fabric in water and wring out the water. This helps the dye to penetrate the fiber better I guess. So you immerse the fabric into it. you need to keep stirring occasionally so that all parts of the fabric are evenly colored.


The shop keeper told me to boil fabric in this dye 30 mins. I bet the actual dye container will have proper instructions. Since I bought only 20 gms of the dye I didn't get the container. What I did was let the fabric soak for an hour and then boil it for 20 minutes. Then I let it cool and then washed it 2-3 times in clean water.

The intensity of the color will depend on the amount of dye you add and the duration of time you soak it/boil it.

The Applique

Found the photo in my archives. It was the first time I had tried the applique technique.

This turned out pretty decent despite having an old singer machine that refused to co-operate! Also, this was one of the few projects that I completed in less than 2 hours!!!! (This happens once in a blue moon!! seriously.)

I had cut the design of the butterfly and stitched it with the zigzag stitch using silk embroidery thread.

The polka dot fabric was from 'Dandi-Bandi' (Also called Shrirampura or Ramchandrapura... this is near Sujata talkies near Rajajinagar. Its also called Chindi market!) The plaid fabric was from Shivajinagar. It was leftover from another dress.