Dylon - what did I do wrong?

[Range543]

I bought a white linen/viscose blouse and used Dylon pink. Never done anything like this before. A pot of powder that goes into the washing machine. I followed all instructions but it didn't turn out great. It's covered in deep pink dots (there's a random blue and orange to) like the powder didn't dissolve correctly.

Any idea where I might of gone wrong? Any tips?

I have another pot (blue) to use but don't want to waste another blouse.

Is there a Dylon hotline or webchat? Contact them.

I would think that the problem is the fibre content of the blouse. Mixed materials take up dye differently. Viscose is man made isn't it so won't react like natural linen.

I had this when I dyed something viscose. Only cotton/denim items have ever worked perfectly for me.

It said the fabric mix would be fine. I've messaged Dylon but won't hold my breath for a response.

I have dyed viscose with no problem... Viscose is made from plant cellulose and should be easy to dye.

Looking at your item two things that occur to me are:

1/ If the item was new you need to give it a really good hot as possible wash first to get the fabric dressing, machine oils and pesticides out of it. They can stop the dye dispersing and being taken up evenly.

2/ That you washed it on an eco wash or short wash. These use insufficient water to disperse the dye and also often do not reach the stated wash temperature.

Did you add salt to it? You usually need to put salt in too, as per instructions.

It can't be the material because I put a towel in to and that turned out spotty to.

Did you definitely use a big enough dye pack for all that material if you dyed a towel too? I've had better results soaking those dyes in a bucket than using the machine sometimes because it just seems to distribute more evenly

I’ve never had a problem with dying in the washing machine. I think Dylan have launched a new dye for machines, I was looking on amazon recently and they have mixed reviews. I’d call Dylon and ask.

It was specifically for machine use. I put a hand towel in to so I'm sure it wasn't to much weight. I might try doing the other one in a bowl.

Did you make the fabric consistently damp to start with? I've only had spotting the one time I forgot to do this. Also, yes, why did you put the hand towel in? I think it would be fine to put it on the shortest cycle you have to get the fabric consistently damp, then put the dylon in with it, nothing else. Should be fine.

Also be careful what you put in your machine now, as when I used Dylon in the machine to dye some cotton fabric it came out patchy like that, but then I intermittently had patches of the dye on other items that were washed afterwards. The patches came out with stain remover, but took ages and this went on for months, despite doing two empty washes to clean my machine. I'd never use Dylon again!

I agree it looks like not enough water / agitation. So try a different program maybe?
The new machine pods don't need added salt.

How long was the setting you used? I vote for not enough water/agitation.

I’ve found that running everything through on a rinse/short cycle first makes sure you’ve got rid of any lingering fluff/bits and it’s all consistently damp. It only adds about 20 mins to the whole process.

I've had crease marks showing up but that was mostly if I hand dyed and didn't stir enough - very unusual in a machine wash. I've also found that dyeing doesn't hide stains and can even accentuate them. But I've never had this effect before. It looks like a kind of stippling and my guess is that it's something to do with the towel - the two will have been thrown around together in the machine.

I hope it doesn't put you off. I dye quite regularly and the effect can be random but it's normally cos you can never be sure what colour you're going to get. I only dye things I'm unlikely to wear again so I've nothing to lose.

And to be honest doing it a bowl - presumably by hand? is much harder work. If you don't keep stirring you get an uneven effect. I'm going to stick with the towel causing it.