[Corey Skriletz]

Hello all,

I recently made a sleeved surcoat out of tan wool broadcloth. I want to dye it in heraldic colors (or possibly just black if I decide I want to make it a Hospitaller garment), but I don't want to take a chance of it shrinking. That being said, I fear conventional dyeing (involving stirring it in a vat of dye) may cause it to shrink. Is it possible color it some other way? For instance, how would the checkered pattern on the surcoat in this picture be achieved?

http://shsworldhistory.wikispaces.com/file/vi...es_-05.jpg

For such a task would painting be involved?

Here is a picture of the garment I'm trying to color.

Thank you, everyone.

[Henrik Granlid]

Have you pre-shrunk it before sowing?
Usually the best way of dying fabric is to do it before you cut it up and sow it.
The vat is only a good idea if the water isn't above 30 degrees centigrade.
And the chequered pattern is most likely done by weaving two different coloured fabrics together when the cheques are that small, i.e. You cut strips of white and red and then you weave them together and fasten them in eachother. If you want large cheques, you can cut diamonds from a fabric and sew them together one by one.


Long and shory of it is that it's gonna be really hard to dye a wool-fabric tunic that isn't allowed to shrink, get wool cloth in the colours you want next time. Hope somebody else got better advice than I do.

[Matthew Bunker]

You can by cold water powder dyes (like these from Dylon for example http://www.dylon.co.uk/product.php?alias=indu...-dye-500g) which won't lead to shrinkage.

But for natural dyeing, Henrik's right, dye before you cut and sew.

Or, even better, dye before you weave, as that is how the chequed fabric would have been made; woven on the loom using threads of two different colours (not woven from strips of fabric as Henrik suggested).

[Corey Skriletz]

Thank you, gentlemen, for the advice.

Originally I wasn't going to dye it at all. It was initially intended to be a monk's robe, but I didn't have enough material and when I tried it on, I realized it was too tight around the legs, and a slit had to be cut in the front and back to make it easier to move around in. By that point, I realized it was starting to look more like an early sleeved-surcoat than a robe. The reason I brought up the checkered pattern was because I thought they used some sort of paint-on dye for that, that I could have used for mine. Now that I know they weave it like that, I have even more respect for people who are able to achieve that pattern!

Well even if it does shrink it should still fit me...only more snug. Last time I tried to dye something black, it came out purple, any idea what I might have done wrong for that to happen?

Thanks again.

[Tristan Gillies]

I'm no expert so I'm just giving my opinion.

Any wool I'm working with I shrink the stock fabric by washing in cold water a couple of times so when its all made I know the fabric isn't not going to shrink any further. Plus its good cause with some wear it eases out the wool and there's a bit of a break in period.

Black dying going purple, my only reasoning if its white (or natural) wool/linen there could be residual bleach in the fabric. Which is why its good to wash out a few times with cheap laundry powder then once with no powder. That's just my theory though.

[Henrik Granlid]

Black isn't the most common early historical colour, because it's hard to achieve.
I'd say go for red, green, yellow or blue, all of them common colours in the 12th century and onward

[Matthew Bunker]

[Geoff Wood]

[Corey Skriletz]

[Matthew Bunker]

[Corey Skriletz]