Has anyone successfully dyed a wool garment (long shot I know!)

[candycane222]

I have a lovely merino jumper (never worn) - well it feels lovely, but it is a really harsh turquoise, and I would really like to soften the colour a bit eg to a teal. I assume I would need a cold dye, but nothing in the Dylon range and that's where my experience ends. I suspect I shouldn't even try, I should just stick it on ebay, but it would be so lovely in a nicer colour....

Anyone got advice?

You can only go darker when you dye things. Are you hoping to just make it slightly bluer in colour? Is it 100,% wool?

Its 100% wool, yes. Definitely darker, I was fancying green on top of the turquoise to make it more of a teal blue/green

Yes, I do it all the time (I process wool from fleeces for spinning and weaving). It’s pretty straightforward. I use these dyes and their instructions are good -

https://peakdistrictyarns.co.uk/pdy-shop/acid-milling-dyes-25g-pots/

You need to add acid to fix but that’s just vinegar or some citric acid (same as used in jam making).

Wow, amazing @MurdoMunro , thank you so much!!! Am going to order some immediately 😃😃!!

I was going to mention the same place for acid dye. I also bought a big cheap stainless steel cooking pot (20 litre or something) for dyeing and a few dedicated utensils.
Wool dyes well but be careful not to felt it in the washing afterwards as I once did. Gentle hand wash and squeeze in a towel.

👆this is good advice, be gentle!

Im curious about this too & have a jumper I'd love to dye. How do you avoid felting while actually doing the dying? The method in the link above talks about simmering it ( or microwaving, which sounds a bit scary!). Thanks

You bring it slowly up to temperature without agitating IIRC and then let it slowly cool. This is my go-to site for advice but I've only dyed garments a few times. http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/wool.shtml

I just used the Dylon all in one in the machine on my jigsaw woolly jumper. Had been pale lilac, and with a bright green dye is now a fresh olive colour.

I used a dylon in machine one recently on a grey merino jumper. It's a gorgeous plum colour now. Despite the care label saying it was pure wool, the ribbing has some very fine elastic threads which obviously didn't take the dye but they are barely noticeable.

Yup, wool will felt if you combine heat, rough agitation and detergent. So if you are going with heat do minimal agitation. So @NotMeNoNo is right again!

Thanks everyone - yes I was wondering about the agitation bit, I will be super careful!