Fabric & Sewing How-To Guides

If you've got a faded pair of jeans that you want to revive, why not dye them? I'm using Black Dylon Permanent Dye for one pair and Denim Blue Rit All-Purpose Dye for another pair. You can use either type of dye for both denim blue and black. You can also try different colors for unique looks.

We've tried lots of dyeing techniques in the past, but this time we're keeping it natural. I'm going to use ground turmeric and a head of cabbage to dye some unbleached muslin. I'm also adding some salt and vinegar to make it more vibrant.

Marbling's been around for centuries. It mimics a natural design that's found in stone (or a nice rib eye). You've probably seen the marbling technique used on things like end papers in a book, or in a stationary store. But did you know that you can marble fabric, too? I'm going to be using liquid Rit Dye and shaving cream to deck out some plain white pillowcases.

Since dye is one of the quickest and easiest ways to add color to a project or to an existing piece of fabric, today I'm going to be demonstrating a simple immersion technique using Rit Dye. Rit Dye is great for all skill levels because it contains a mixture of several different types of dye, making it a really great option if you want to dye something that's a blend or contains multiple kinds of fibers. For polyester and other synthetic materials, use Rit DyeMore.

Fabric dye isn't just for fabric. You can use Rit dye to stain wood and wicker as well. This adds color without covering the grain of the wood. The finish has greater texture and dimension than paint. Today, I'm staining an unfinished set of drawers.

Ice dyeing is a really fun technique with unexpected and beautiful results. Cathy, Jen, and I each dyed an item using different dyes, colors, and ways of manipulating the fabric. Watch the video or read below to see how they turned out! We used Rit Powder Dye and Dylon Dye. We also have many more awesome dyeing techniques that you can find here.

Ombre is popular in fashion, hair, and decor. It describes the blending of one color to another or light to dark. This gradient is easy to create by dip dyeing fabric or clothing. You can ombre pre-made items like shirts, dresses, curtains, or pillow covers, or dye fabric and use it to create something of your own.

The low water immersion technique will create a mottled, uneven effect when dyeing fabric. By using little water and tightly packing the fabric, you'll get a strong pattern like this, or use more water and get a subtler result. You can also create other patterns by tying or folding the fabric in different ways.

Batik fabric is traditionally made using wax as a resist. Designs are created by painting or stamping hot wax onto the fabric and then dyeing it. The wax stops the dye from penetrating the fabric. You can create a similar effect much more easily by using glue instead of hot wax.

With the Shibori folding technique, you can create geometric patterns like squares, triangles and hexagons by simply folding the fabric in different ways. You can also clamp flat objects to both sides of the fabric before dyeing. The area that is covered will remain white, adding another element to the pattern.

Tie dye is a form of Shibori, which is the ancient Japanese art of dyeing fabric. There are many different forms of Shibori including folding, stitch resist, and pole dyeing. In this example I'm going to tie fabric with rubber bands to get 3 different dyeing effects. Get creative with different ways of tying the fabric. You never quite know how it's going to turn out, but you can get some unexpected and beautiful results by experimenting.

This Shibori dyeing technique uses thread to create a pattern. The stitches act as a resist so the dye can't penetrate certain areas of the fabric. With this method you can basically draw with the thread to create detailed designs. With Shibori stitch resist, the possibilities are endless, so experiment with different designs and multiple colors to get beautiful and unique results. Want to get the orange ogee pattern and the printable PDF instructions?

With the Shibori pole dyeing technique, you can create unique striped patterns. They can range from fairly regular lines to fluid, ripple-like stripes. Experiment with different ways to wrap the pole and multiple colors to create unique patterns of your own.

By painting fabric with dye, you can create beautiful watercolor effects by blending and bleeding colors. It can be as simple or complex as you want. I actually like how the back side turned out better because there was more bleeding and the plastic under it created some interesting effects. You can combine this painting method with other techniques like batik dying or create a multi colored ombré.

Over the years, we have experimented with many different methods of dying fabric. All of which yielded beautiful results, but usually required a decent amount of work leading up to and during the dying process. But what if you want a nice all over dye without the fuss? I knew that RIT dye could be used in the washing machine but I had never tried it for myself, until today, and I am so glad that I did. The overall color was brilliantly saturated, and even.