wool staining or variegation

[Pleater]

Dyeing evenly is a real skill which many attempt but few perfect.

If faced with this on a made up kilt - particularly if on wool with a real question mark over its washability, I would most likely accept that it is simply a property of the dye and the dyeing process which might or might not reduce with age.

With saffron you could declare it is a natural dye and subject to such things - though if you were talking to anyone who knew the real cost of dyeing with saffron that might be steering too close to the wind.

Overdyeing sometimes increases the variation if the original colour has a different chemical base to the staining. It is quite usual to strip out all colour from a garment before redyeing it, in order to get an even colour.

If you can rinse the kilt in a large amount of water - I'd advise room temperature rather than cold - I'd maybe try that, just the water at first, with perhaps a few drops of detergent so as to make it wet the fabric more easily rather than to work on it.

If there is no trace of dye coming out of the fabric after a few minutes then I'd take the kilt out and pour in more detergent - I usually use a cheap hair shampoo - swish the water around to mix it in and then replace the kilt.

Gently moving the kilt to work the detergent through the layers should not have drastic consequences - felting/shrinking requires heat, soap and agitation, and is difficult at room temperature.

If there is no alteration in the colour then at least you end up with a nice clean kilt.

I usually rinse things three times, and for wool alter the pH with a cup of white vinegar in a final rinse - it prefers to be slightly acid, and detergent is alkaline.

I know that a lot of people use Cool Aid, the drink powder, to dye wool and other fibres.

For wool it requires only a vinegary bath to work in, so as long as it is all dissolved before the kilt is immersed it might help to disguise the variation, and it could be done a little at a time, trying different colours, then steamed later on to set the dye.

Anne the Pleater :ootd: