Hand-dyed cardigan

There were a lot of water colored and hand painted cardigans in the stores this past spring, which inspired me to create my own. I made this cardigan a couple of months ago, and the photos have been hanging out on my flickr page. Somehow, I just never got around to writing the post to accompany the pictures. I'm going to be getting out the dyes again this weekend, so I thought I would tell you about my first project.

I started with a cream-colored cardigan from Loft . I put a board covered with a trash bag inside to keep the color from transfering from one side to another.	Once I had decided that I wanted to try a hand-dyed effect on the sweater, I searched Dick Blick for some kind of paint or dye. I found Dye-Na-Flow, which is a paint made to simulate dye.	I played with numerous techniques. First, I tried applying the paint to the dry cardigan. This produced very dark colors but the lines were very sharp. You can see this in the second big blotch from the left. To soften the effect, I poured water on the painted splotches and used the brush to spread it out. I also poured salt over the top. I read to use salt when browsing for dye techniques. I think that it helped to control the bleeding if I applied too much water.
I hung the cardigan up to dry. This is how it looked after my first painting. I like it but decided to try wetting it first and then applying the paint to see how that worked. It was a lot less controled and much lighter in color	Once I was satisifed and let the paint set overnight, I washed the cardigan in woolight until the water was clear instead of pink. Since that first wash, I have just washed it on cold with other colored clothing.	I dryed the cardigan with a pink towel in case the pink dye rubbed off.