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repairing moth damage & wool dye

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I have been given some hand-me-down cashmere jumpers which are gorgeous but do have some tiny little holes - has anyone had any experience of repairing them? Do I just have to felt it? :(

I also want to dye them because they're not a very nice colour (light charcol brown) which is really not me. I was thinking teal or something a bit brighter (the inner goth has be sated with enough black jumpers for a life time). But where do I find a good dye?

On the dye note - are there good dyes for wool mix items? I have a really cool funnel neck wrap cardi but its a viscose elastine wool mix and is still a tad patchy after dying for the second time. Any suggestions on that front?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    To kill any odd moths put the jumpers in the freezer for a few days. Prevent moths with cedar balls. I keep these with my yarn stash and hand knits for prevention.

    I recently dyed using the dylon hand dyes, I did a cushion that is man made fibres and a vest top that is silk and wool or similar I think and it worked well on both although the man made fibre is a lot lighter than the natural fibres. Other than that I haven't dyed fabric since textiles at school.

    To repair the moth holes I don't know. You could try to "fill them in" by stitching across the area in a matching yarn. I do this when items I knit have holes in them by accident like if I get a yarn over by mistake although thankfully this rarely happens now but in my early days of knitting I'd get loads of holes by accident.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd just stitch up the holes if they are small. Use matching yarn if you can find any, otherwise normal sewing thread does a reasonable job, you can only see the repairs if you look closely. Make sure you stitch through the loops of any dropped stitches if there are any.

    To dye wool, you either need a special dye for animal fibres, or, weirdly, you can use food colouring. Google 'dying wool with kool aid'. There are loads of tutorials, just substitute food colouring for the kool aid. Most fabric dye you buy in the shops is intended for use on plant fibres. It might work a bit, but the colours won't take as well as acid wool dyes, and if you're trying to dye over a colir rather than over white, that might be a problem.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Will kool aid/food colouring be colourfast?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you follow the method correctly it will be. I think you have to heat it or add salt or something, I know people who dye yarn but probably should listen more carefully when they talk about it. Kool-aid is very well known as a dye and you can buy kool-aid in the UK in some shops although it's hard to find (I have seen it on sale here in London in shops which stock a lot of American products). It's kind of scary that it makes a really good dye yet people happily give it to their kids to drink. I think you can get it online as well. I've seen yarns dyed with the stuff and they look really good, nice strong colours.

    With the dylon dyes you can't use the washing machine version on animal fibres, only the hand dye version and you have to add lots of salt.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep, it's colourfast as long as you follow the right method - I did a yarn tutorial, but the idea is the same for garments - http://mamafactured.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/tutorial-dyeing-yarn-with-kool-aid.html

    You can get kool aid on eBay for reasonably cheap, but the colours can be pretty lurid! There's a colour chart on the Internet somewhere that can help you see what you'll end up with.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kaff wrote: »
    Yep, it's colourfast as long as you follow the right method - I did a yarn tutorial, but the idea is the same for garments - http://mamafactured.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/tutorial-dyeing-yarn-with-kool-aid.html

    You can get kool aid on eBay for reasonably cheap, but the colours can be pretty lurid! There's a colour chart on the Internet somewhere that can help you see what you'll end up with.

    Kaff, you are amazing.

    How would I go about making a variegated?

    I vote this as your next experiment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html

    This might work for you, too, Miss R., but I would suggest (as RG did) that you darn over any holes with pure wool before attempting felting.
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