Tie and dye

Tie and dye is one of the techniques of creating a pattern or design on the fabric using one of the resist dying methods where the fabric is tied in the appropriate manner required for the design and then dyed to create patterns. The portion of the fabric which is tied does not take the dye and the rest of the fabric gets colored thus forming the design. 

This technique is seen in most of the parts of the world. In India it is also called as 'Bandhani'. Lots of variations are done in tie and dye techniques to create variety of designs. 

Tie and dye designs and techniques

The most popular design in tie and dye is circles like design or pattern. A very tiny portion of the cloth is picked and tied tightly. So as said before the portion of the fabric which is tied does not take the dye and the rest of the fabric gets dyed forming white circles kind of pattern. 

This technique can be used creatively to form different unique patterns. Apart from the circle shaped design lots of other patterns are produced by various methods like the following

• Folding the fabric like a square and tying only lengthwise or lengthwise and widthwise tightly

• Folding the fabric like a square and machine stitching on it in different patterns like straight lines, diagonal lines etc. In this case wherever the stitch is done the dye does not penetrate. 

• Crushed effect can be obtained by simply crushing the fabric; tying it randomly and dyeing it. 

• Different sort of designs can be produced by tying the fabric with some objects inside it for eg rice and then dyeing it. 

• Four corners of the fabric can be knotted and dyed. 

• The fabric can be folded like a square or rectangle and the four corners of the square or rectangle can be tied and dyed. 

Images of some tie and dye samples

Square fold tie and dye

Tie and dye with object inside(rice)

Tie and dye with object inside(rice)

Crushed effect

Wrinkled effect

These are few tie and dye methods and you can however be very creative and make your own interesting designs. Synthetic dyes are mostly used in these days. 

Applications

Tie and dye is widely used in almost all types of apparels, home furnishings and accessories. Products where tie and dye technique is applied includes shirts, kurtis, salwars, sarees, anarkalis, dupattas, stoles, shawls, women and men's tops, skirts, scarfs, jackets, bags, shorts, leotarts, women's dresses, wall hangings, swim wear etc. 

Again creativity plays a very important role here. You can be very innovative in applying the technique in different products. There is no hard and fast rule that you have to apply a particular technique in only a particular product. As long as the design is pleasing and the product is usable it is perfect.

Batik

Batik is also one of the resist dyeing methods and here melted wax is applied on the cloth according to the design and then it is dyed. The dye will not penetrate the portion of the fabric where the wax is applied and the rest of the fabric will get dyed and thus forming the design.After the dyeing process is completed the wax is removed from the fabric by immersing the fabric in boiling water where the wax melts and gets removed. 

In the above image the white or off-white portion is where the wax was applied before dyeing. This is not my best work. This is just to show you what is batik. You can see some crackled effect in the design which is the characteristics of batik.  

                     
How to do Batik?

Things needed for Batik

• Melted wax 

• Fabric : Cotton, silk. 

• Tijanting needle: This needle looks like a pen and is used to apply wax on the fabric. The needle has a wooden handle and one or more spouts. A brush can also be used to apply the wax. 

Sketch of a tijanting needle

• Wooden frame 
• Dyeing bath

Pre-preparation

Before commencing the work the fabric is washed thoroughly to remove impurities and then boiled in water to preshrink it. 

The technique

1) The fabric is stretched on the wooden frame firmly and the design is traced on it. 

2) The melted wax is poured into the tijanting needle and the wax flows through the spouts. The wax is applied in fine lines over the traced design. If brush is used, the same is dipped in the wax and then the design is drawn. 

3) When the wax dries completely the fabric is dyed immersing it in the dyeing bath. The process is repeated if many shades are required. 

4) After dyeing the fabric is rinsed well and boiled in hot water to remove the wax. 


Applications

Batik technique is applied in various products like women's dresses, caftans, skirts, T- shirts, bags, purses, beddings, pillow covers, wall decorations, table cloths, bedspreads, scarfs, wrap skirts, shirts, lounge wear pants etc. 
                                                

Introducing textiles

I am introducing the next category in my blog which is 'Textiles'. According to wikipedia 'Textiles is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn'. Now in my blog i am not going to go deep into the technical details about the manufacturing process of fibres, yarn or fabrics. This category 'Textiles' is all about textile designing and about various fabrics, its types, applications, properties etc. Here is a brief note about textiles and its types. 

The raw material for the textiles is fibres. Fibre is the smallest unit of fabric. Fibre can be broadly classified into two types Natural and Synthetic fibres. Fibres gotten from the natural resources are natural fibres and those that are manufactured by man artificially are called synthetic fibres. 

Natural fibres can again be from

• Plant origin examples are cotton, jute, flax, coir etc
• Animal origin examples are wool, silk etc
• Mineral origin examples asbestos, glass fibres etc

Synthetic fibres are produced by man artificially and examples are polyester, nylon, lycra, aramid, acrylic etc. 

These fibres are spun into yarns and yarns are made into fabrics. Depending on the methods used to make the yarns or fibres into fabrics, the fabrics can be classified as 

• Wovens: The sets of yarns are interlaced at right angles with each other by hand or by machine.  The lengthwise yarns are called warps and the width wise yarns are called wefts. Examples brocades, banarasi, georgette, chiffon, satin, handloom fabrics etc. 
• Knits: The yarns are interlooped with each other. The knitted fabrics have more elasticity. Examples sweaters, socks, lingeries etc. 
• Nonwovens : The fibres or yarns are bonded together by using chemicals or mechanical methods, by using heat or solvent. Example felt. Braiding is also one of the method.  

Once the fabric is formed it is called as grey fabric when a suitable finish has to be given to it to make it a finished fabric. The fabric is then dyed to the required color. Dyeing can be done at fibre stage, yarn stage or the fabric stage depending on the requirements. Patterns or designs on the fabric can also be done using dyeing process. Tie and dye, batik are examples.  If printing is required it is done using different methods like block printing, stencil printing, screen printing ,roller printing etc. After the suitable finish is given the fabric is now ready to be made into finished products like garments, home furnishings, accessories etc.