washout serendipity!

[brixter]

While washing out a recent dye I opened it up to discover a spot in the center of the shirt where sizing kept the fabric from taking the dye. I know the best thing is to scour all the fabric before dyeing but it's a problem I rarely encounter and weighed against the cost of all that synthrapol it's a step I usually skip. I have a microwave which I use for dyeing occasionally, so I rewetted the problem area with soda ash mixture and applied a bit of the missing color and put this shirt into the microwave in an attempt to repair the ugly white spot. I nuked the shirt for 3 minutes while I washed out another shirt. When I removed this repaired shirt and washed it out again I found a ton of dye came out- and not just the color I had just added. Apparently while setting the color on the spot it heated up the rest of the shirt and this loosened up a bunch of unset dye. I hate raising the temp on our water heater for rinsing shirts since our gas bill is always so high already so by rinsing out the dye, then microwaving a few minutes and re rinsing, I find my dyes are hitting the washing machine with a big head start on becoming clean! Also this gives me a chance to inspect and fix any sizing problems which come up....oh, did I mention the bad area on the shirt in question is hardly noticeable now? Maybe all this rambling will be helpful to somebody else!

[brixter]

I just wanted to add that since making this last posting I've discovered scouring items to be dyed is a much better idea than I had thought. I was under the impression that the biggest benefit was the elimination of sizing marks in the finished item and that was something I found to be limited and worth risking. After reading lots of posts on here which strongly suggested pre-washing...I decided to give it a try. Now pay attention ladies, I'm about to do something which many of you say men cannot do.... I was wrong! lol. I found scoured items were not only blemish free but also easier to dye in that the material seems "thirstier". A lot of the dyes I do have a lot of folds and I've been having trouble getting the dye into tight spots without it running onto adjacent areas. Since the dyes penetrates so much better it's easier to accomplish. Many layered folds receive the dye better and I believe the overall result looks brighter so I've become a prewash advocate! Hopefully this past posting didn't lead anyone down the wrong path! I do however still microwave the shirts I'm rinsing out and fine I get a TON loose dye out this way before the items hit the washing machine.