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hiyoko-chan — + Gradient Dyeing Tutorial +

Published: 2008-10-16 19:52:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 75334; Favourites: 1142; Downloads: 1233
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Description [EDIT 3] - VIDEO VERSION!! [link]

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[EDIT 2] - sorry for some reason comments were disabled, but you have any questions feel free to ask XD

[EDIT] - Made a few more notes to help I'll HOPEFULLY have a video of gradient dyeing this summer. I'll keep every1 posted on that

GRADIENT DYEING + RIKKU SCARF TUTORIAL

This tutorial covers gradient dyeing for monotone colors or multiple colors. This is also a tutorial on how to CROCHET a Rikku scarf but sorry not for how to make the Songstress sideskirt. I just used it as an example of one color gradient dyeing.

Also, this tutorial is tailored towards using Rit dye, it is often recommended that you find a dye that matches the fibers of your fabric. I use cotton blends alot so i use Rit in that case There's dyes like Dylon and dye from the Dharma Trading Co that tailors towards silk, rayon, etc.

PS: Yuna thief blades were made by my awesome for my bday XD XD i'll be doing Thief Yuna possibly for Acen [will definitely need a warm season to wear that haha]

Rikku Scarf: Crocheting the scarf

Materials:

1 large spool of Cotton white yarn [be sure that it is cotton or wool, 100% polyester and 100% acrylic will NOT dye]
1 package Rit Golden Yellow dye
1 package Rit Tangerine dye
1 package Rit Scarlet dye
1 3 or 3.5 mm crochet hook
3 – 4 gallons of water
3 cups salt
1 tbsp laundry detergent
1 large trash bag


1. Ch 15, turn and sc in ea ch [do not skip 1st ch]
2. Rpt for remaining rows [you’ll have to keep trying it on to get the right length for yourself, just stop at your knee cap]

Fringe – Take a 5” board [I used a DVD case LOL] and wrap yarn around it about 60 times
1. Cut along one side so that you have 60 10” strands.
2. Fold two strands in half and grab the loop of those strands with the hook and pull through a single chain on the scarf end.
3. Pull the strand ends through the loop and tighten off – Do this for every chain [about 15]
4. Repeat for other side

*Gauge should be about 15 or 16 ch
*Use sc [single crochet]



Gradient Dyeing

I detailed this according to dyeing the Rikku scarf.. but for one color dyeing, proceed with steps 1 - 4, but instead of switching out colors, proceed to gradually work your way down the material.

*Notes:
+ Basically you’ll be following the instructions on the package but I’ve made minor adjustments.
Use only about 1 or 1.5 gallons of water instead of 3 like the package says. This will give the dye more strength and make it more vibrant UNLESS you have a huge swatch of fabric to dye [i'd estimate 3+ yards, then use 3 gallons BUT with 2 packs of dye]. Just make sure you're using enough water for the fabric to freely move in without crowding excessively.

+ When doing multiple colors, start with the LIGHTEST color then end with the DARKEST (i.e. Yellow to Red)

+ Gradient dyeing is also an eyeballing technique, for the most part, you can gauge the look of the gradient by holding it up and looking to see if there are any harsh transitions. If you DO have a harsh transition in a lighter area, take a separate dyeing bucket and fill it with hot water and a SMALL portion of the solution in your current bucket to dilute it and then proceed to dip-dye repair the harsh area.

+ Selection of fabrics/materials: 100% cotton, linen, rayon, wool, and silk are suggested for Rit dye. Fabrics that contain at least 60% of these fibers are still dyeable however they will not be as strong. My suggestion is to do the gradient dyeing 2 or 3 times, alot of work i know. So CHOOSE wisely!

+ 100% polyester or acrylic will NOT dye!! As stated above, BLENDS of these fibers with DYEABLE fibers will give you LIGHT results. Please heed my word on this, i've made this mistake before.

+ It is EXTREMELY important to PRETREAT and POST-TREAT your fabric. Pretreating your fabric will help remove any prior stains or debris. Post-treating involves THOROUGHLY rinsing out the dye after each color [start from warm water and gradually into cold water]. You MUST MUST MUST MUST *breathes* MUST MUST do this!! Especially if you have gradient involving light and dark colors, any traces of the darker dye will rub off onto the other colors!!! It is also important that once you have done this that you wash your material to help remove any last bit traces.

+ Remember: DON'T freak out at first that the color looks tremendously dark as you're dip dyeing. When you post treat and dry it, it'll dry to a lighter tone. If you ARE looking for that strong of a color, concentrate the solution with a higher dye to water ratio but work in smaller parts of predye being added to the bucket.


PRECAUTIONS:

+ Dyeing works well when you use HOT water, so please be careful when touching your fabric or working with the dye bucket.

+ GLOVES! Dye does stain your skin, granted it comes out EVENTUALLY, but i don't ever recommend dyeing without a pair for safetys sake. I usually use a pair of wooden disposable chopsticks to do any sort of agitation to the fabric in the dye bath.

+ When REMOVING dye using the Rit Color Remover, i noticed it has a very prevailing odor that can be quite sickening, please exercise precaution!

+ Staining - should you accidentally stain ceramic/tile, i noticed bleach works wonders to get it out, however obviously if you stain clothing or carpeting, you got yourself a nice blotch So wear careless clothing.


DIRECTIONS:

1. Boil 1 or 1.5 gallons of water [Does not have to be a rolling boil, just enough so that it is hot]. I usually just fill up a large stove pot with sink water and heat that up.

2. Prepare dye in presolution as directed on package. [I use a water bottle for this – just be sure to keep this separate from your actual dyeing bucket; all you basically do is pour the dye powder into the water bottle and then fill up the bottle with hot water, cap and shake to dissolve the powder, be careful when shaking if you don't tighten it off, you get a few splashes! lol]

3. Add 1 cup of salt and 1 tbsp laundry detergent to bucket.

4. Pour boiled water into bucket. *CAREFUL NOW!*

5. For the yellow, dump the entire yellow dye presolution and let the scarf soak for about 25 minutes with periodic agitation so that your fabric gets even contact with the dye. Remove from bucket and rinse THOROUGHLY.

*Repeat steps 1 - 4 for the orange and red dye. Be sure to completely rinse out the previous color from your bucket before starting the new one.

6. To get the nice gradient effect, only pour in about 1/3 or 1/4 of the orange dye presolution into the bucket and stir well. What this does is dilute the orange as you will see when you first go to dip it in.

7. *Note: the colors are about 1/3 each of the entire length, fold the scarf perfectly in half and hold the fringed side up with the other end to be dunked into the dye. Make a light mark where you want the gradient to begin, I used a pin [about 1/3 down from the fringe]

8. Dip the scarf to the farthest point you want the orange to start two or three times [take your time, don't rapidly dunk and yank it out LOL], afterwards dunk about 1 – 2” away from the last point you dunked, dipping about 2 or 3 times at the same spot. Proceed for a few more inches.

9. Lay out a large flat trash bag next to your bucket and CAREFULLY set the fabric on it making sure to keep the gradient end away from the lighter ends. Add another 1/3 or 1/4 of the dye presolution, stir, and continue from where you left off. Do not dunk from the very beginning of where you started!!!

10. Continue this process of adding the presolution in small parts while stirring and dip dyeing. Add the rest of the dye and finish the gradient.

11. Lay the scarf out on a trash bag to allow it to sit for about 25 minutes. Then rinse scarf out THOROUGHLY. **Avoid rinsing dye out near the yellow to avoid any staining)

12. Repeat for the scarlet dye from the bold end of the orange.

13. To check if you have washed your dye out during post treatment, the water should run clear or nearly clear [and i mean VERY CLOSE to clear]. Once this is verified, wash it normally and there you go!


Hope this helps
Related content
Comments: 199

jasmione [2010-02-28 19:21:22 +0000 UTC]

your scarf is really pretty <33
gonna try it when i finish knitting my scarf~ *faves*

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to jasmione [2010-03-01 06:46:53 +0000 UTC]

good luck!! hope this helps

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

rixxs In reply to ??? [2010-02-23 17:03:29 +0000 UTC]

This is really helpfull! I'm making the trainer version of Rikku, so I'll have to make several colors gradient dyed >_< This makes it sound so easy <3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to rixxs [2010-02-24 20:22:26 +0000 UTC]

hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

salukichan [2009-10-27 20:30:43 +0000 UTC]

This might sound like a crazy question, but can this tutorial be used with fur material? I want to do something like this for a fursuit

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to salukichan [2009-10-27 21:02:22 +0000 UTC]

hmm i've never really worked with fur before.. the best you can do is to check if there's a label on the material [the bolt or if its packaged] and see what type of fibers it has.. if its an organic fiber, it 'should' work, if its synthetic, not so much.. but this is all in theory lol

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

salukichan In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-10-27 22:02:36 +0000 UTC]

hmm, ok! Thanks a lot!

Maybe you can test that some time for kicks

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Rietalienko In reply to ??? [2009-10-15 06:20:10 +0000 UTC]

Hey, this is totally awesome! Not really looking to make Rikku's scarf exactly, but it's a great tutorial for making any scarf in that style. Thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Rietalienko [2009-10-15 17:54:46 +0000 UTC]

The Rikku scarf was just for demo but you use the same concepts for anything else you want a gradient on

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Rietalienko In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-10-16 02:37:32 +0000 UTC]

Awesome, well thanks for all the tips! Also, major props for all your cosplay. It is, without a doubt, some of the highest quality cosplay I've seen. (that, and I just went through X for the billionth time XD; )

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Rietalienko [2009-10-17 02:58:50 +0000 UTC]

aww y thank u!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

GT18 [2009-10-11 07:24:17 +0000 UTC]

Gosh, I have prolly a syntetic scarf. Sure there is no way to color it?
Maybe using...acrylic spray colors?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to GT18 [2009-10-12 02:41:55 +0000 UTC]

u can use synthetic 'sprays' it'll just take ALOT to fully saturate the scarf to change colors at least, i'm actually working on dyeing a synthetic scarf right now using fabric paint, so once i find out how that goes i might make a tutorial on it if it works

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Michael-chibi In reply to ??? [2009-10-02 04:33:35 +0000 UTC]

The scarf is really perfect! O_O

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Michael-chibi [2009-10-02 20:50:38 +0000 UTC]

thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Lame-Ino-Girl In reply to ??? [2009-09-30 13:10:40 +0000 UTC]

i really want to try this out!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Lame-Ino-Girl [2009-10-01 22:22:24 +0000 UTC]

its not hard good luck!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Lame-Ino-Girl In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-10-02 09:52:38 +0000 UTC]

thank you so much!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

ChibiHaruChans [2009-09-13 15:10:31 +0000 UTC]

I'd love to do thisss

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to ChibiHaruChans [2009-09-15 04:01:53 +0000 UTC]

its actually quite easy! XD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

ChibiHaruChans In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-09-15 04:05:36 +0000 UTC]

I'll see if my granny would like to make a scarf for me, and then I'll attempt dyeing it

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

ChocolateDumpling In reply to ??? [2009-08-06 04:05:17 +0000 UTC]

This is so helpful! *faves* I don't feel quite as intimidated now Thanks so much!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to ChocolateDumpling [2009-08-06 12:20:07 +0000 UTC]

no prob! hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

HotaruKudo In reply to ??? [2009-08-03 03:46:10 +0000 UTC]

Oh my goodness, this is so useful! I'm making a Rikku scarf right now. ^_^ Though my question is, I started knitting it with yellow yarn, then was planning on dying it with orange then red dye, do you think this'll be okay? Or should I restart the scarf (I'm not that far in yet, luckly) in white yarn?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to HotaruKudo [2009-08-03 16:11:35 +0000 UTC]

as long as the yarn fibers are dyeable, than it'll actually save you more time if you start out with yellow you can jump straight into dyeing the orange.. just make sure first that the yarn is dyeable!! i've made a similar mistake when i made an entire yellow scarf than found out it wouldn't hold dye :/

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

HotaruKudo In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-08-04 22:58:55 +0000 UTC]

Arg, my yarn wasn't the right kind of yarn! At least I realized it before I went to far. It was hard to find the proper kind of yarn, but managed to find creme colored wool. Was impossible to find white. o.O
Oh, and I know you're supposed to dye with rather hot water, but is it possible to dye with cold water? I'm afraid the wool will shrink. o.o

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to HotaruKudo [2009-08-05 06:17:27 +0000 UTC]

its possible to dye with cold water, however, you will lose a substantial amount of dye since heat is what helps make the yarn absorb the dye. You should add a cm or two to the width of the scarf or however to compensate for shrinkage, and it also depends on the type of stitch you're using.. but i'd highly recommend dyeing it in hot water to get the fibrant colors

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Darantha In reply to ??? [2009-07-26 09:35:56 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, planning my Songstress Yuna cosplay and I had problem figuring out how to dye the sideskirt. This'll help a lot!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Darantha [2009-07-27 00:05:17 +0000 UTC]

no prob, hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Darantha In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-08-20 13:50:11 +0000 UTC]

Just got to ask, did you sew together the sideskirt first and then dye the whole thing in one go? Or did you dye it piece by piece?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Darantha [2009-08-20 14:37:52 +0000 UTC]

the songstress sideskirt was dyed all together in one piece so it was much easier

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Darantha In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-08-21 05:23:29 +0000 UTC]

Ah great, was planning to do that but I was worried about strange spots in the fabric. Thank you.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Ailish01 In reply to ??? [2009-07-18 03:36:11 +0000 UTC]

wow! Perfect scarf! I have no idea how to crochet but this tutorial for the dying is amazing! Now I just need to find something to apply it to.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Ailish01 [2009-07-20 15:30:14 +0000 UTC]

hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Reberaka In reply to ??? [2009-07-15 03:58:05 +0000 UTC]

I love this O.O

Would i be able to get a commision for a scarf like that?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Reberaka [2009-07-15 09:56:06 +0000 UTC]

thanks! unfortunately i've halted commissions for these scarves.. primarily because of my schedule, i just don't have time these days to do any commissions :/

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Reberaka In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-07-15 21:51:22 +0000 UTC]

ohhhh i see Dx

Thanks anyways ^^

Oh and I wanted to ask you what the first direction said to crocheting the scarf O.O i didint understand lol

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to Reberaka [2009-07-16 15:35:26 +0000 UTC]

lol no prob, it says: Chain 15, then single chain into each chain. This will be your gauge

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Reberaka In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-07-16 21:34:50 +0000 UTC]

Ahhhh okay xD lol!

im only a semi good croceter, so Ill see what i can do Dx lol

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

currry In reply to ??? [2009-07-09 17:46:53 +0000 UTC]

yayayayyy, I've been trying to find a good tutorial of this for a while @__@
thank youu

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to currry [2009-07-10 15:26:39 +0000 UTC]

no prob, hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

fnldestnygrl951 In reply to ??? [2009-06-20 01:57:05 +0000 UTC]

This is sooo amazing!!! I has only one question. You did say how to make the Rikku sacarf, but I also need the sideskirt TT^TT Could you tell me how you made it please?? It looks sooo perfect and I'm just shocked

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to fnldestnygrl951 [2009-06-21 05:17:35 +0000 UTC]

i'm sorry but i really don't have any sort of pattern for the sideskirt, it was honestly trial and error but i was fortunate enough for it to come out half way decent ><

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

fnldestnygrl951 In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-06-23 15:39:52 +0000 UTC]

aow.... oki ^^ I was mainly curious how you got it to flow and layer so well

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

kittyriki In reply to ??? [2009-06-01 15:19:05 +0000 UTC]

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to kittyriki [2009-06-04 13:40:29 +0000 UTC]

hope it helps!

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

bratforlife In reply to ??? [2009-05-07 14:44:15 +0000 UTC]

how did you get the side skirt of yuna's done????
Do you have a tutorial on it???

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

hiyoko-chan In reply to bratforlife [2009-05-07 18:05:39 +0000 UTC]

the gunnner sideskirt? same method as monotone dyeing mentioned in the tutorial, just done in 3 separate panels then they were sewn together

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

bratforlife In reply to hiyoko-chan [2009-05-09 01:23:45 +0000 UTC]

oh okay :: thank you ^_^

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

GeneralSilver In reply to ??? [2009-02-24 16:03:55 +0000 UTC]

This has been very helpful, I will definatly use this technique for my Rikku scarf(which im pretty nervous about heh) I had no problem dying my gunner Yuna skirt but I fear not finding the right type of wool, i tried dying some white fabric I had to yellow for a Selphie cosplay and it completly failed because the material wouldn`t dye. but anyway, learned my lesson, i'll make sure to check for the right fabric, thx to you ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1


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