The blue-->brown with bleach issue has me wondering if your blue is actually indigo, which (I believe, unless I have things backwards) turns yellow in basic solutions and blue again in acids. That might also explain why it's so very hard to remove. Try dipping your brown swatch in vinegar to return it to blue? If it works, you know you've got indigo (or a synthetic version of the same chemical) and could do research from there.
Emma Quoting MaggiRos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Sounds like it would be gorgeous just the color it is. > Wear it outdoors for a few weekends and it may well > start to fade. (Blues these days seem to be expecially > unstable.) > > I'm just afraid that efforts to lighten it will end up > giving you something that looks like blue-jean denim. > And that's not an elizabethan look. > > MaggiRos > > --- Dawn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I've got a very dark blue linen that I'd like to > > make a 16th century > > dress out of. However, it's very very dark, nearly > > black, and I'd like > > to lighten it a bit. Fade it, even. > > > > I washed a test piece and some color came out in the > > water, but did not > > noticeably lighten the fabric. I think this was > > excess dye. > > > > I soaked a test piece in a very weak bleach solution > > and the fabric > > turned a chocolate brown color. Nice, but not what I > > wanted. And even > > then, it has dark blue dye spots all over it. > > > > I suspect that dye remover will get me the same > > result. > > > > Vikings? What Vikings? We are but poor, simple farmers. The > village was burning when we got here. > > Anon. > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > h-costume@mail.indra.com > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > http://anvil.unl.edu/emma http://HelixHandworks.etsy.com _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
