HOME DYEING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19008, 4 May 1925, Page 14

HOME DYEING.

Successful dyeing needs care, proper utensils, and good dyes. Let the receptacles for the dye have perfectly clean surfaces and bo absolutely free from blemishes and cracks. Prepare a strainer made of fine muslin, a smooth stick to stir the dye, choose the dye according to the material to be treated, arid, above all, choose a fine, windy day, so that the article may be given a rapid, open-air drying. Dyes are of two classes—cold water, and those that need boiling. Cottons and silks are invariably successful with cold water dyes, though these are seldom permanent in effect. However, that is of little moment, for it is a simple matter to redip them when they are growing faded again. Fabrics for dyeing should be quite clean and without any stiffness, so any starch should be well washed out. Coloured materials that are patchy should bo boiled in order to make the colour as uniformly faded as possible. Care should be taken to make a sufficient quantity of dye to do the whole of the work in hand, and the proportion can easily be reckoned by allowing one pint of made dye to every pound of fabric. By placing "the articles upon the scales and then ascertaining from the packet how much dye it is supposed to make?, the calculation is not difficult. All articles for the dye-bath should be steeped in water for half-an-hour beforehand. The dye should bo made according to manufacturers' instructions, but, whatever the brand, the first solution should be strained through muslin before it is turned into the full quantity of water. Otherwise streaks and dark spots aro hound to occur. Test the dye first, and if satisfactory in colour, plunge in the article, allowing every thread of it to bo covered and saturated. Keep it moving with a copper stick. When it. has boiled for as long as directed, add salt to the dye one handful for every pound the article weighs. This will help to set the colour and make it more lasting. The boiling'! process should then be continued for another fifteen minutes. The subsequent rinsing is important, and should be continued until the'rinsing watcr_ is Absolutely clear. Do not wring or twist the items in any way, and apart from what can be squeezed out by gentlo pressure, the article should bo allowed to drip dry. The pressing with n warm iron should bo given before the article is quite dry, unless this is distinctly forbidden in the instructions on the packet.