Ice Dyeing Fabric

Have you ever Ice Dyed before? I haven’t until recently. My good friend Christy has done it several times, and she agreed to have Gale, Holly, and I over for an Ice Dyeing party! Lucky us!

I love these ladies!! They along with Molly, are in my local longarm quilting accountability group. It’s been great to spend time with them and talk about longarm quilting in our local community. We missed Molly this time, she was out of town.

Christy told us to bring a 45” cut of PFD fabric, which means Prepared For Dyeing or a 100% cotton t-shirt. Our local quilt shop was out of the fabric, so Gale brought me a piece. She’s a gem! Christy also asked us to bring a strainer or container with holes in it, for the water to drain out when the ice melts. I found the black rectangular container at the dollar store. We also each brought a bag of ice. Christy had the dyes, soda ash, and synthrapol on hand.

When we got there Christy had a bucket with Soda Ash in it to soak our fabric in for 15 minutes. She used one cup of Soda Ash to a gallon of water. Note: don’t throw out your Soda Ash/water mixture. You can use it again. I’ve never used or even heard of Soda Ash, but apparently it’s a great thing to use when you wash dark clothes for the first time. Holly said she washed her son’s black baseball pants in soda ash when he first got them, and they maintained their color throughout the season. Awesome stuff!!

This is Gale, Christy, and Holly…putting their fabric and shirts in the containers getting ready for the ice.

After soaking the fabric in Soda Ash, we folded up the fabric in half and then half again so it is square. Then we folded it on a diagonal, similar to the shape of a paper airplane before you open it back up. Then we loosely rolled it from the point to the edge, which is like rolling a croissant. Then as you can see in the picture below we opened up the end a little and laid it in our containers. Christy helped me with mine. The fabrics or shirts need to be looser than you think, so they can accept the dye. For other ways to fold the fabric or shirts, google it or experiment.

The next step is to completely cover it in ice, as you can see my container below. Yes, before dyeing you put the ice on.

All iced and ready to go!

These are the powdered dye that Christy loves to use, a little goes a long ways.

The colors are so beautiful! We used plastic spoons and made sure to wear gloves.

Here is Gale doing one of her shirts or her fabric.

Below is my container. I put an olive green and navy color on mine. I should have gone lighter on the navy, to see more of the green.

Here are a few of Gale’s.

Then it’s time to wait…and wait. We actually visited for an hour or so after we were done and then took them home with us. I put my container in two garbage bags and then used a red bowl underneath the bags to get mine home without getting dye in my car. I’m glad I had the bowl. The garbage bags ended up ripping. Christy had a perfect spot on the side of her house to do this. Be mindful of where you let your container sit to melt and dry. You don’t want animals or kids to get to it, and you don’t want it on cement. When I brought mine home, I put it on the grass to let the ice continue to melt. I also covered the top with a plastic bag to keep out any animals. We let them sit for 24 hours before rinsing. If you’d like to add more ice after the first ice has melted you can, it can help distribute the dyes even more.

I didn’t get a picture of it when the ice completely melted, sorry!! Next up, put gloves back on and now it’s time to rinse out the dye until you don’t see any more dye. Laid mine out on the grass and rinsed it with the hose, trying not to splatter and get it on me. Christy has a utility sink in her laundry room that she rinses hers out in, and she showed us that the dyes don’t stain her sink. It’s up to you.

Here is my fabric! It’s fun to see the mandala in the middle of each of these. You can see touches of green a little bit, unfortunately I used too much navy.

Below is Holly’s. Amazing huh?!?! She folded hers the same way…in fact we all did. Holly just sprinkled her dyes differently than I did and added more of the green.

Below is Gale’s. It’s so beautiful with all of the deep colors. I love her mandala. I believe she used the red, purple, and aqua.

Below is Christy’s. Incredible!!! She’s so good at distributing the dyes and using the best color combos. Her Mandala is so detailed, I’m amazed.

After you rinse out your fabric or shirt, put it in the washer with a tablespoon of Synthrapol. Then dry it. The heat in your dryer helps set the dyes.

As we were checking out one another fabric, one of them pointed out it looks like I have cats in my mandala. Can you see it? While I haven’t done anything with my fabric yet, this is what Christy did with another one she previously dyed. Isn’t it beautiful?!!!!

It would be fun to dye a bigger piece and make a throw quilt, quilting it with a funky texture.

Does this make you want to ice dye some fabric?

I’m no expert, if you’re interested in more info google it and check out what tutorials may be available. This was such a fun thing to do for our August meeting. This is why you need awesome friends in your life who teach you new things.

Thanks for stopping by!! Happy quilting, friends! Leisha

PS…I’d love to quilt for you. Contact me or email me at quiltingit@gmail.com • check out my Longarm Quilting Services page, to see more info and to print the Quilting Request Form to send with your quilt. I look forward to working with you!