Textile Dyeing Methods & Techniques

Textile dyeing is the process of application of color evenly on the textile (fiber, yarn, fabric, or even garment).

Depending on the requirement, textile dyeing can take place in any stage of manufacturing of the textile.

As specified above, textile dyeing can take place at different stages of the manufacturing of the textile. There are various methods of textile dyeing which are as follows:

1. Fiber Stage Dyeing Method
2. Yarn Stage Dyeing Method
3. Fabric Stage Dyeing Method
4. Garment Stage Dyeing Method

Fiber Stage Dyeing Method

In this method, the dyeing is done at the fiber stage. Either the dyestuff is mixed in the chemical solution to manufacture man-made fibers or the fibers are dyed in the dyebath.

Yarn Stage Dyeing Method

In this method, the yarns that are spun using fibers are immersed in the dyebath, partially and completely. This is done before the yarns are used for the construction of fabrics. This is specially used to create various designs in the fabric, such as:

• Stripes
• Checks
• Plaid
• Tweed

Fabric Stage Dyeing Method

In this method, color is applied to the fabric after its construction. The fabric is submerged into the dyebath to get the desired color.

Garment Stage Dyeing Method

In this method, the finished garment is dyed in the dyebath in order to get the desired color.

These are the different ways in which textiles can be dyed. The various ways of dyeing textiles are:

• Solution Dyeing
• Stock Dyeing
• Hank/Skein Dyeing
• Package Dyeing
• Beam Dyeing (Yarns)
• Winch/Beck Dyeing
• Jet Dyeing
• Jig Dyeing
• Pad Dyeing
• Beam Dyeing (Fabric)
• Paddle Dyeing

These are the most common techniques used in the textile industry.

This technique involves dyeing at the fiber stage. As the name suggests, the dyestuff is added to the chemical solution of the man-made fiber. When the fiber filament appears from the spinnerette, the filament appears colored.

The advantage of this technique is that the colorfastness property of the textile will be excellent.

This technique also involves dyeing at the fiber stage. The loose fibers are immersed in the dyebath before the processes of blending, combing, carding, and spinning take place.

The advantages of this technique are as follows:

• Excellent colorfastness property to the textile
• This allows creating a yarn of multiple colors to give a melange look in the fabric
• Uniform distribution of the dyestuff

This is the costliest method of dyeing. The reason is that the dyeing is done prior to manufacturing of the yarn, which will incur some wastage of the fibers, depending on the quality of the yarn required for further processing.

This technique involves dyeing at the yarn stage. The yarns are loosely arranged in a hank or skein form over a ring in a large container. This is then immersed in the dyebath to get the desired colors on the yarn. This is suitable for yarns which cannot be too stretched or compressed like wool.

This technique involves dyeing at the yarn stage. In this, the yarn is wound on yarn carriers in packages in the spinning stage. The packages could be in the form of cones, cheeses, tubes etc. They are then arranged on perforated frames. The dye solution is then penetrated through the packages in a continuous movement to get the desired color.

This technique involves dyeing at the yarn stage. In bean dyeing, the warp yarns are wound on cylindrical beams which are placed in a machine. The dyebath is run in a center-to-outside and then in an outside-to-center motion to get the desired depth of the color.

This technique involves dyeing at the fabric stage. The fabric ends are stitched together to make a continuous piece. The fabric is then immersed in the dye liquor in a slack condition and is rotated by a roller in the dye liquor. The dye, in this case, is stationary whereas the fabric moves.

This technique involves dyeing at the fabric stage. The fabric is placed in a rope-form in a tube-like containment. There are pressure jets in the container and the dye liquor is penetrated through the fabric through these jets.

This technique involves dyeing at the fabric stage. In this technique, the fabric in an open-width form is held up on two rollers in a machine called a jig dyeing machine or a jigger. The fabric is unwound from one side, immersed into the dyebath and then wound onto the other side. The action is repeated until the desired color is obtained on the fabric.

This technique involves dyeing at the fabric stage. The fabric is wound on rollers in a pad dyeing machine in an open-width form. The fabric in its long length is then made to pass through a trough which contains the dye liquor, and moved along the roller. It is a continuous process and the excess dye is squeezed out of the fabric.

This technique involves dyeing at the fabric stage. Just like in the yarn stage dyeing method, the fabric is wound on large cylindrical beams. The dye liquor is then pushed through the beams to impart color to the fabric.

This technique involves dyeing at the garment stage after the construction of the garment. The garments are immersed in a dye solution placed in a large container in the paddle dyeing machine. The garments are loosely packed and a motor driven paddle circulates the dye solution in the container to impart color to the garments.

This technique can also be used for dyeing individual components of a garment. In that case, the dyeing would take place before the construction of the fabric.

These are some of the most common techniques used in the industry. Other than this, there are various other techniques (examples: cross-dyeing, union dyeing, etc.), that are used to impart special appearances to the textiles depending on the requirement.