How to use Silhouette fabric dye ink

Silhouette is a range of vivid, water-soluble colours, made in New Zealand and eco-friendly, designed for dyeing and painting fabric. It can be applied by brush, sponge, immersion or spray. Here's how to get great results in six steps.

Is Silhouette right for your project?

Silhouette suits natural fabrics best, such as cotton and silk. Any fabric can be tried, but test a sample piece first. If you'd rather print a design onto white or light fabric, take a look at Heatset.

What you'll need

• Silhouette fabric dye ink in your chosen colours
• Water and a container for mixing (for immersion dyeing)
• Brushes, sponges or a sprayer, depending on your method
• Natural fabric, washed before use
• A way to apply dry heat: a hand iron, tumble dryer or tunnel dryer
• Silhouette paste if you want pastel shades

Step 1: Add water and mix

For immersion dyeing, we typically recommend starting with about 1 cup of dye to 3 cups of water. This is a starting point only. The right ratio depends on the colour you're using and the result you want, so test on a scrap of fabric and adjust to suit.

Our colours are fully intermixable, so you can mix different colours from our range to create your own shades. For pastels, thin the colour with water, or mix colour into Silhouette paste, and experiment until you reach the shade you want.

Other methods:

• Painting: for a sharp edge, use Silhouette straight from the bottle. Colours can be painted wet on wet or wet on dry.
• Airbrushing: dilute the colour with 4 or more parts water.

Tips for mixing pastels with paste:

• Add colour to the paste, not paste to the colour. Start with the Silhouette paste in a cup and add your colour to it a little at a time. Doing it the other way round means you'll use a lot of paste trying to lighten the shade.
• Experiment and test. We encourage you to try different combinations of our colours and paste to create unique results. Everyone wants slightly different results, so test your mixes on scrap fabric and let each one dry completely before starting on a full piece, as colour can dry a slightly different shade from how it looks wet.
• Keep a record. Each time you get a result you like, note how much paste and colour you used. Weighing them on a small digital scale and writing the amounts down makes the shade easy to repeat.

Pastels will fade into dark fabric, so keep them for white or light fabrics. If you'd like to print onto dark fabric instead, try Heatset Hi Opaque White, which shows on both light and dark fabric. A new range of inks designed for dark fabrics is coming soon.

Step 2: Prepare the fabric

Choose cotton or silk for the best results.

Tip: wash new fabric first. New fabric often contains "dressing", which can cause uneven colour uptake or colour loss when washed. Wash it thoroughly before decorating.

Step 3: Apply colour

Immerse, paint, sponge or spray your fabric. For the tie-dye look, scrunch and fold the fabric before dyeing. How long you leave the fabric in the dye varies with the colour and the result you want, so try different soak times on scrap fabric to get the look you're after.

Step 4: Air dry first

Allow the fabric to dry completely. At this stage the ink is not fixed yet, so don't skip the next step. Hang it or lay it flat somewhere safe.

Step 5: Heat-set to fix the ink

Silhouette needs heat fixing for maximum colourfastness when laundered. Once the fabric is dry, apply dry heat, for example with a hand iron, tumble dryer or tunnel dryer. If you're using a hand iron, iron small areas at a time.

Recommended fixing times:

As always, test your fixing method before production.

Step 6: Ready to wear

Once fixed, your fabric is ready to wear, sew or sell.

Test first

Test your fixing method on a sample piece before you start on a full production run. This is especially important if you're using a fabric other than cotton or silk.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the heat-set. Air drying alone doesn't fix the colour.
• Not drying fully before fixing. The fabric must be dry before heat is applied.
• Ironing large areas at once. Work in small areas for even heat.
• Using the wrong ratio. Dye bath strength varies by colour, so test and adjust.
• Using dressed fabric. Wash new fabric thoroughly first.

Clean-up

Clean all equipment with clean water after use.

Which ink should I use?

Use Silhouette to dye or paint natural fabrics by brush, sponge, immersion or spray. If you want to print a design onto white or light fabric, try Heatset light fabric ink.

If you want to print onto dark fabric, try Heatset Hi Opaque White. Our new range of dark fabric inks is also coming soon