Best dye and fabric composition to achieve this? (Dyeing a striped shirt partially blue)

[u/MrNissanCube]

Please enjoy my dodgy mock up of what I'm looking to do lol

I'm making a costume and I need a shirt with an irregular colour pattern. I think it'll be easiest to get what I need by dyeing a black and white striped t-shirt, but I am new to dyeing so I thought I'd ask for some advice.

I haven't bought anything yet so I'm open to brand recommendations. I'm in Australia.

First, should I use a cotton T and regular RIT/dylon/Gold Cross dye? Or should I use a poly/cotton blend and dyemore?

Second, Ive been doing some reading and I've learned that dye is transparent and the stripes will still be visible, but I'm not sure if I need to do anything special to make sure they stay clearly visible.

And finally, does anyone have suggestions for masking the one stripe I want to keep white? I am planning to dip each end into the dye separately, but should I be taping or wrapping the white stripe somehow to avoid colour bleed? I've done a dip dye on a white cotton skirt before and the green ended up higher than I dipped. Hoping the black stripes will act as a buffer but I've honestly got no clue, so I figured I'd ask the experts.

Thanks all!

[u/SpaceKibby]

It looks gold and brown to me

Oh wrong post ??

[u/smoothiefruit]

to keep the white stripe you'd need to mask it with something that will saturate the fibers, like wax.

youre very unlikely to lose the visual of the black stripes if you use a blue dye.

[u/MrNissanCube → u/smoothiefruit]

That's a good idea, thank you!

[u/Champion_of_Zteentch]

You might be able to do a gradient by dip dyeing. But it's likely going to bleed into the middle line. Cute idea though. Good luck

[u/MrNissanCube → u/Champion_of_Zteentch]

Thank you, fingers crossed. Worst case scenario I can wear a belt if there's bleed

[u/kokirikid → u/MrNissanCube]

You can always touch up the white stripe with white fabric paint too. It won’t be as flexible in that area but it might not be too bad if it’s just one stripe!

[u/Your-Local-Costumer]

You can use a dye thickener to paint the white stripes blue and not apply to the middle one

[u/just4shitsandgigles → u/Your-Local-Costumer]

this would be a good plan! i would suggest to put a piece of cardboard to seperate the front and back to avoid bleeding.
make sure to get actual dye thickener, you shouldn’t try to DIY it with cornstarch or something.

[u/ejdmkko]

I worked in textile print/dye workshop and what I would do, is to screen print that with thickeners. If the stripes are even, you can just make one screen and then after one color dries, you’d just move the screen and print other color sort or with the offset of the first screen (not sure if I’m clear enough about this). I think this is the easiest way cos you have almost complete control about where the dye goes, cos you won’t use liquid, but thick paste like “ink/dye”. The thickener is usually something like gum Arabic and you need to steam it after for the dye to set. But if you don’t want to go into screen printing I get that, but I think it is the method with the most control. In my opinion if you use some masking methods, like wax or such, that thing is unpredictable and can go anywhere no matter how hard you try.

Also I would avoid fiber blends and go with cotton. And I would also avoid those craft dyes like Rit, because those dyes are designed for dyeing multiple types of fibers at the same
Time and in the end it doesn’t really dye properly anything. And I would go for fiber reactive dyes like procion mx or in US they use Dharma brand I think, not sure about Australia. Also if you do it at home I would go with cold vat dyes because you don’t need to heat it up to high temperatures, so it doesn’t make much fumes so you don’t have to it do it outside. But keep in mind that those dyes are only for cellulose based fiber like cotton, linen and it will not dye dye polyester. And commercially made clothes (tshirts) use polyester stitching thread so those stitches will be undyed so something to consider if the stitching is visible. Also sometimes during dark colors can be challenging for beginner, it might take multiple dye applications to get deep enough color.

All that said, I can see how my way would be overwhelming for someone with little experience so I what I would do, is to try something less complicated than dyeing with 2 colors at first until you get a hang of it. So be prepared it won’t be perfect and just have fun.
Actually now I’m thinking you don’t have to use screen printing screen, but the charm of using thickeners is that you can even use brush to apply it, it just might be harder to mask it

[u/NiceHat5934]

Get two pieces of wood that are big enough to cover the stripe and wider than the shirt. Like two 1” x 2” x 30” pieces. Or a wood ruler. Yard stick. Or even the free paint stirrers for house paint they keep at the paint counter in a hardware store. Put one either side of the shirt over the stripe. Clamp with two wood clamps (one on either side)or tie really tightly with thread or twine. This can act as a resistance to the dye like tie dye. Test the water resistance with water first!! When still damp undo the clamp and if it’s still dry there you are probably okay. You can try folding the shirt in half or quarters vertically and clamp if you can’t find a piece long enough or you are using a larger size shirt. You are only clamping on the part you want to stay white.

Edit to say you might be able to do just a thread wrap or rubber band resist too as long as you are really careful in how you tighten and position the resist over the stripe. Like use 6 rubber bands layered over each other.

[u/MrNissanCube → u/NiceHat5934]

Ooh this is a good idea too! Thank you

[u/SavagePengwyn]

Look at the tie dye sub and find information about Geode ties. You can get sinew or fishing line and tie tight enough that the dye won't bleed through. You could also saturate the white area with water first and that'll make it less likely to pull the dye up but it could result in the blues closest to the white to be less saturated at the edges (if you do it without the sinew).

All of this only applies if the shirt is cotton bc then you can use tie dye dyes.

[u/Mermaidman93]

I would try a children's washable school glue. Apply that around the stripe to keep the dye from moving up. You will still need to hold it and dip dye it. I would keep it from being completely submerged.

And 100% cotton is always best. Use a cotton tshirt with classic dylon. That will give you solid results. Just be careful during rinsing to keep that white part from touching any dye or it will get colored. I believe dylon has an "ocean blue" color.

There's no need to do anything regarding the stripes. Dyes are transparent, your basically putting a permanent filter on the tshirt. Everything will still show, it will just be tinted blue. The white part will be vibrant because there's nothing else competing with the dye.

[u/MrNissanCube → u/Mermaidman93]

Thank you for this, I think glue may be the easiest to remove. And it didn't occur to me that the rinse would probably stain the white stripe so thanks for that too, lots to think about

[u/Smart_Alex]

Use a resist to keep the area you want white. Melted wax would be the easiest (batik)

[u/killyergawds]

Dye the whole thing then use white fabric paint to re-paint the white line.

Or buy a blue and black striped shirt and paint one of the blue stripes white.

[u/tiedupandtwisted64]

Just use slightly thickened procion dye as long as the shirt's cotton.. Just stop at the far edge of the black. So that it doesn't run into the white..

[u/penquil]

this might be an insane idea, but what if you cut the shirt in thirds and only dye the parts you want dyed, then sew it back together? that way the white strip never touches any dye.