Hi gang...

Question....

I am trying to dye a Riflemans Pullover Hunting Shirt which is 60% linen and 40% cotton. It is a natural linen color now. I am attempting to dye it a nice evening blue...I was going to dye it royal blue but my test piece of scrap material came out purple. Apparently Rit dye royal blue is known for this.
I want a softer but still evening shadow blue color.

Has anyone dyed a shirt of thsee materials...and ...does anyone know how to get that really nice blue without the purple color or purple undertones?

Thank you for all your help and advise!

Hi there are some really good posts on walnut dye that may help.

Well you are probably trying for something close to proper indigo. Blue was pretty rare in a hunting shirt, except for some military units when the government was paying for the dye.

With the dry boxes of RIT....,

First, rinse the shirt in the washing machine to remove any sizing chemicals. Then while still wet, you want to add it to the dye bath. If the fabric wasn't prewashed, OR if the detergeant wasn't fully removed when it was pre-washed, it may be reacting with the dye chemicals.

So, in the washing machine, you want to make a test bath of a box of royal blue AND a box of denim blue by Rit, plus a cup of Kosher salt. Yes, two boxes of dye, not just the one. Test this on a scrap of the fabric that has been washed and then is submerged, wet. If it works, great, but if you get the same purple, drain the washing machine, rinse, and start over.

This time do two boxes of denim blue, and add a cup of Kosher salt. Then dye the shirt. If it's darker than the desired color, well, you are probably fighting the color of the linen, unbleached. You don't have too many subtle choices with OTC chemical dyes. With dry Rit you get Royal, Denim, and Navy or in other words, Light, Medium, and Dark...blue.

Follow the cleanup directions on the box.

IMPORTANT TIP..., open the packets of dry dye using gloves and holding the packages UNDER the water. That powdered dye dust goes everywhere if you don't open them under the water, you will screw up a lot of other stuff in your laundry room.

LD

Thank you to all for your advice. Shirt is dyed and looks good. I appreciate all the experience and help

LD, you are a wealth of useful information. I was just reading this. I’ve used Rit dye years ago but I got a lot of good tips from your post.

I might suggest one really clean out the machine well after dying to get rid of the dye but also the salt.

In the future I’ll by dying my cloth in a plastic tub outside.

Thank you, glad I could help.

LD