Fabrics are the raw materials needed for necessary household items and clothing. But before it is tailored to different garments, fabrics are dyed in order to give a variety of colors, so that they can be transformed into the things we use and enjoy everyday.
There several ways of dyeing textile and fabrics on a commercial scale. Let’s look at some of them.
Direct Dyeing
Direct dyeing is the process of putting dye directly on textile without the use of an affixing agent. Both
natural and synthetic dyes are used for this process.
Stock Dyeing
Stock dyeing is the process of dyeing fibers before it is spun. It is done by putting the loose material into large vats, which are heated to the appropriate temperature required for the process.
Stock dyeing is advisable if you want a heather-like effect, because it gives the weaver more control on the color as the fiber is being spun into yarn or wool. For instance, if you want to create a muted or milder version of the color, you can spin the dyed fiber with white material.
Top Dyeing
Top dyeing is another method of dyeing fiber or yarn prior to being spun. In this method, the short fibers are removed before the dyeing process. Top refers to the long fibers of wool from which the short ones were removed from and used for worsted yarn.
Yarn Dyeing
As its name suggests, yarn dyeing is the process of putting color into yarn before it is woven or knitted into fabrics.
Skein Dyeing
Skein dying is a way of dyeing yarn through dipping skeins or loosely wound hands of yarns into dye vats. Yarns used for knitting are typically processed this way.
Skein dyeing is one of the oldest and expensive methods of coloring yarn, but it remains significant for it can color small portions of yarn.
Package Dyeing
Package dyeing is another way to dye yarn. It takes place while a yarn is wound on a small spool or tube, which is referred to as the package. Several packages of yarn can fit into a dyeing machine at once, which makes the process less expensive. However, package dyeing may result to less soft yarns.
Warp Beam Dyeing
Warp dyeing is a more economical way of dyeing larger batches of yarn. It works by wounding an entire warp beam onto a perforated cylinder, which will be put in a dyeing machine.
Garment Dyeing
Garment dyeing, as its name implies, is the dyeing of complete garments such as shirts. It is performed by placing garments into mesh or net bags and immersing them into vats of dye. Garments inside the bag should be loosely packed for even coloring. This type of dyeing method is not suitable for tailored clothing such as suits and dresses due to possible distortion.
