Originally Posted by fabric_fancy
Originally Posted by butterflywing
Originally Posted by fabric_fancy
its not the retayne its the fabric
you can try washing it again in the hottest water you can to remove the retayne and then wash it again in the hottest water you can to try and fade it even further.
you can then over dye it yourself with purple to try and achieve a more uniform color.
with all that said i love the mottled look and wouldn't do a thing - but i'm not you and i understand the disappointment when a fabric doesn't turn out exactly as you wanted.
if you overdye with a dye like RIT, it will fade out every time you wash it. if you want it to stay as you dye it, you have to use a commercial (professional) dye. however, any dye you use will be mottled because it's starting out on mottled fabric.
it's very, very nice the way it is and definitely looks like it was supposed to be that way. i would wash it one more time to be sure it's finished doing whatever it did.
while i am not a fan of RIT or Dylon dye, i use procion, it can be used and treated with retayne to prevent fading and bleeding.
here is an article on how to use these products for your reading pleasure
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/allpurposedye.shtml
also if you choose a dye that is the color of the dark mottled sections you can even out the mottled tone of the fabric.
i know this to be a fact because i do it all the time with my fabric when i'm not happy with how the mottled effect has come out in the dyeing process.
instead of getting rid of the fabric i simply dye it again to an even color tone that looks just like kona cotton.
procion dye is not in the same category as the first two. it is a commercial /professional dye, such as is sold by Dharma, and it may not fade out. still, if you use procion, there will be mottling because you're dying both light and dark fabric and you'll be changing the color of the print, again because that's a different base color. it's the same as dying over pale purple and dark gray. you end up with two different shades just as you begin with two shades. in this case, throw the print into the mix for an additional value. instead of complicating the matter, i would leave a perfectly acceptable fabric where it is, wash it one more time to let it do it's thing, and use it as it's lovely self.
if it were sold this way, it would probably have cost more as a printed batik.