Three Major Challenges in Dyeing Silk Garments
Today, which is why I'm going to tell you today how difficult it is to get the colour of a silk garment exactly right for you.
You likely have silk, that beautiful, lustrous, very soft fabric that when touched feels like a baby's skin. However, did you know that all it takes to ruin a whole batch of silk being dyed is to make one tiny mistake - like working or collaborating with a very fussy artist? There are three main problems to dyeing silk that I have come up with that I want to discuss with you.
Silk fibers are so fine and soft that they can absorb a dye at an amazingly fast rate. But since this absorption is so rapid, it is very easy for the fibers to absorb too much dye or to absorb unevenly if one is not careful. For example, when you use watercolors on a normal sheet of paper; the paper is slow in absorbing water which gives enough time to mix and spread colors over it slowly." Silk is more like one of those highly absorbent paper towels: you sit down just a shy dot of pigment and it spreads instantaneously. So when we dye silk, we have to maintain very tight control over temperature, time and dye concentration. Even the slightest adjustment can result in unsightly color bleeding or patches on the fabric muted areas which are much paler (or darker) than surrounding portions of then garment. Sometimes, within a single batch of fabric, the color in the center may differ from that at the edges; this puts the craftsman's skill and experience to the ultimate test.
The Second Challenge: The "Great Color Escape"-Issues with Colorfastness
Are there times when you've washed a red silk scarf and it bled all over the rest of your laundry? Have you ever worn a white silk blouse (all day long!) and then found it was discolored around the collar and under the arms because you perspired throughout the day? This is a common occurrence with regard to the colorfastness of products made from silk. Because of the high luster of silk and its smooth surface, it is not an easy task to keep vibrant colors "locked" onto these slippery fibers, because of this, the darker the color, (for example) navy blue, red, black, the greater chance it will bleed. After the dyeing process is complete, the finished products go through a series of rigorous tests (i.e., soaking in warm water, washing with soap, mimicking how human sweat affects the color) to ensure they are color fast. If they do not hold their color fast, then the entire production run has to be sent back to be reprocessed. Therefore, with high-quality silk garments, it is normal to see a very slight amount of "surface color" bleed during the first wash; however, if the fabric continues to bleed heavily with every subsequent wash, it is a clear indication that the dyeing process was fundamentally flawed.
The silk protein fibers are analogous to human hair; indeed, repeated application of dye and/or perm processes can cause the hair to become severely damaged, dull, dry, fogged (grey) in color.Silk can be dyed through both thermal and chemical methods, so it is very important that timing and temperature are strictly adhered to.Falling outside those guidelines compromises the strength of silk and thus its ability to reflect a natural shine. After the silk is dyed, it might no longer feel like soft when touched, it will lose its natural pearlescent quality and may become so stiff that it would break more easily than before upon coming under moderate gentle stress from pulling. Hence why a skilled artisan needs to use the right amount of dye and properly apply that dye so as not to compromise the integrity of the silk fabric when creating a suitable level of saturation for that colour. As one of our craft artisans frequently says when dyeing silk, "It's better to have a lighter coloured piece of silk than to risk damaging the silk by over-dyeing it." For once the silk is damaged, the garment will quickly begin to pill or fray, rendering it unwearable after only a short time.
The purpose of providing you with this information is not to frighten you; the goal is to show that the production of a truly beautifully coloured and lasting silk garment takes significant effort in the background. As a supplier of silk, we test every single batch of finished product rigorously; we do meticulous cross-referencing of dye swatches and will check the colours of products in different types of lighting conditions. (Since the same dye colours will show differently under different types of lighting, like fluorescent light, natural sunlight and warm artificial light).
So the next time you buy a beautifully hued silk item that remains bright and vivid after multiple washings, have pride in knowing that the supplier put a lot of care into his product.