Woot Woot! My Generous SIL Strikes Again!

We ran up to the city today for a little family outing and stopped by my brother's house. Same brother/SIL who gifted me with 6 boxes of great fabric last month to boost my sewing stash. She sent me home with several yards of wool interlock (Woot!) and about *18* back issues of Ottobre magazine. About 6 of them are duplicates to what I already have, but most are not. Totally generous and awesome gift for a sewing mama. :D

So, how do I take care of the wool?? It's natural colored and not dyed. She said it had already been washed/felted, but it's a bit dirty and needs to be cleaned. How do I wash it? Temperature? Detergent? And, how do I dye it? I have Procion dyes, but she said the colors don't always come out as you expect. If I used Procion, what is the process? How would I do it with, say, Koolaid?? I've never played with much wool and, though free to me, I don't want to waste so much awesome fabric.


Edited by littlehands - 18 Jun 2012 at 6:47pm

Nice! I don't think my sil would even know what interlock was... Other than one aunt on each side, our families arent very crafty! :D

I do hot wash, hot dry to shrink and felt as much as possible. I dye in 3-5 yard batches in the washer (toploader) using either jacquard acid dyes or lanaset. Not sure that procion (fiber reactive) will work well with wool but I havent tried it. These instructions assume acid dyes. Koolaid would technically work but you will need to use a ton, and I dont know how washfast a darker shade would be on fabric. There are probably tutorials out there.

You need dedicated tools (i use mason jars for dye, chopsticks and old b ab y spoons to mix, and giant tongs and spoon for stirring wool), heat so crank up the water heater about an hour beforehand, and acid. Regular 5% vinegar is fine.

Mix dyes. I use maybe 1-2 tsp per pound of dry fabric, I have gram weights some place (if they arent packed) and will try to get them later if you want. :)

I prewash with synthropol to remove all oils and gunk, then dry to preshrink. Soak the wool in lukewarm water before starting - it should be thoroughly wet.

Start longest hottest wash cycle, add dye, close and let fill. Add wet wool, let agitate a few minutes.

Open washer, use spoon or tongs to move fabric to one side of washer, pour in 1-2 cups vinegar, swish, close washer let agitate. After a bit I stop the washer and let tthe wool soak maybe an hour, restart every now and then to agitate. Once dyebath is mostly clear I let cycle run. Some folks just let the cycle run without a soak but I get better intensity with a soak.

If doing a few batches I remove wool, dye more fabric, then do warm wash with a couple tablespoons (one glug haha) synthropol to remove excess dye. Is washing only one color I sometimes use regular detergent because synthropol smells horrible. Dry warm or hot. Turn down the water heater. Done!


Note: prep washing on hot, then drying on hot, then dyeing on hot with agitation will result in a densely felted fabric. I like that I can accidentally throw any of my interlock items in a hot wash, hot dry if needed and not worry. Finished items usually go in a xsmall warm slow wash/fast spin with wool wash/suds from bar but sometimes soakers end up in the diaper pail and longies/shorties end up in regular laundry.

For longies and shorties with 95/5 wool I like the apple dumpling gear pattern. For 100% wool I like crescent moon yoga pants pattern then just make the leg opening wider for a flare.

Edited by sunnymom - 18 Jun 2012 at 7:48am

Yes, I'll sell the duplicates. I actually just ordered 2 of them last week and they aren't even here yet. LOL Just goes to show that God takes care of my wants even better than I can, and I should let go of that wheel more often. :P

I have several of the ADG patterns. I bought them specifically so I could play around with sewing wool but hadn't been able to justify the expensive fabric purchase. I did throw it in the wash last night and was shocked to see there is around 4 yards- much more than I first thought. I have no idea if it's 100% or a blend. I've never even handled wool interlock before.

Thanks for the info Sunny. Do I have to have the synthrapol to ensure colorfastness, or is it just better for evenness? I have tons of standard/procion dyeing supplies but have never felt synthrapol necessary for everyday dyeing.

I'm tempted to do up a bit of procion and stick a small corner in to see what happens. She said it does work, but the colors don't show true. Otherwise, I'm going with Koolaid, I think, and will probably do small batches on the stovetop.

Definitely don't have to have the synthropol.  mine usually comes in rolls from the mill so it's pretty... um... stank, to put it mildly, and the synthropol cleans it up really well.  as a prewash it is mostly to ensure an even dye job and as a post-dye wash it ensures that loose dye is removed so it won't bleed, but it isn't as necessary if doing smaller batches.  you can also prewash with a little dish soap but really, a regular additive-free laundry soap is fine.  when doing stovetop dyeing i check the temp with a thermometer if doing a blend so i don't totally cook the lycra and also to make sure the temp is high enough.  my dye stockpots are supercheap though and the bottoms are pretty thin.  for me the toughest part of stovetop dyeing is keeping the fabric moving enough to dye evenly, same as with any other even-coverage dye process really.  Or you can do a low-water immersion, one color or a few colors for a crumply tie-dye look, which is fun too! i would try the procion first since you have them already.  :)

if our stuff weren't packed and moved already i would just send you a bit of the powdered jacquard dyes.  :(  i kinda have a dye addiction problem and like to enable.   

littlehands wrote: (Lori, you don't have a pair of interlock woolies, do you, that I could look at and fondle?? :D)

Ummm... I have some Baby Beehinds covers, but I don't know if they are interlock or not.  That's all I got, though.

I had a Baby Behinds but don't anymore. It was similar in feel, now that you mention it.

I found this. Doesn't look too tough. Same basic process as fiber reactive dyeing, but sub vinegar for soda ash and heat on the stove. I'm giving it a try now with Plum Blossom; we'll see how the color comes out.