Ice Dye Batik Apron

Every year I make gifts for friends and family. This year I took a class to learn ice dyeing at my local fabric store. Turns out it was a lot more than that, and I also learned how to make batik fabric. I was hooked. I don’t like to go overboard when buying supplies for a new hobby so I did my best to thrift many items I will use for this Instructable.

A word about the finished product. This is my first project after taking the class. I used a lot of different dyes because I wanted to see how they looked on my fabric. I will use more restraint the next time, but I have no regrets. Let’s get started. 

Simplicity pattern #S9312

Any natural cellulose fabric - Linen, rayon, cotton, silk, etc. I thrifted some white cotton twill.

Fabric dye - I used these: Dharma Fiber Reactive Procion Dyes

Soy wax - I bought soy candles at the Salvation Army for $1.

Soda Ash - aka Sodium Carbonate, found in the pool and spa section of many stores.

Heating coil or small electric skillet - Best price I found is here: Amazon.com: IMUSA USA Electric Single Burner, Black

Smallest skillet you can find. Dedicate it to melting wax.

Shapes for applying wax to fabric - I found everything I wanted at my local thrift shop.

Small plastic container - mine is shoe box size.

Optional string or rubber bands to fold your project when dyeing.

Gloves, plastic table cloth, face mask when using powdered dye.

Ice

Textile detergent - Dawn blue dishwashing detergent works. 

Step 1

Sew the apron before starting the dyeing project. This particular pattern is a Simplicity pattern and as the name implies, it is extremely simple to sew. Make sure you wash the fabric prior to cutting and sewing. This removes any kind of sizing and also pre-shrinks many natural fabrics.

Pro tip: At least once a month, Joann Fabrics has a sale on Simplicity patterns. I got mine for $1.99

Dissolve 1 cup soda ash into 1 gallon water. 

Soak your apron in this solution for at least 20 minutes. Wring out the apron and allow it to dry. Use gloves!

This helps the fabric absorb the dye better and the colors will be brighter and longer lasting.

Pro tip: You can reuse this solution over and over. I save mine in empty plastic milk cartons.

Protect your work surface with something you don’t mind ruining. A plastic tablecloth from the $1.25 store works great.

Lay out the shapes you want to use or just use a brush to paint the wax onto your apron. You can draw a pattern with a water soluble pen and paint over it with wax.  I have mostly cookie cutters here, but really anything that will hold up to melted wax will work.

I love the creative freedom this hobby gives me.

Turn on the burner and melt some wax in the skillet. My particular burner doesn’t have actual temperatures on the dial. Low, medium and high are as accurate as it gets, but you just want to melt your wax, keep it melted but not so hot that it starts smoking.

A word about using soy candles. They are scented, so when they melt the fragrance fills your work space. Make sure you like the fragrance before you buy the candle, since the smell gets pretty strong. Alternatively you can buy soy wax for candle making but it costs a lot more than a dollar!

Why soy wax, you ask? Because it’s water soluble. You don’t have to iron layers of newspaper over your wax to remove it from the garment. This is the only reason I would even attempt this project. Seriously.

Dip your shapes in the wax, let it drip to remove the excess and then stamp the fabric. The key is to make sure the wax soaks through to the other side of the fabric. The twill fabric I used for this project is pretty heavy, but I did see that the wax soaked through. 

Use gloves. Things get pretty slippery when dipping and stamping your fabric. Keep extras available so you have better control of your equipment.

Keep in mind that the places you have applied wax to will not take up any dye. That fabric will be the color of your original project. In my project, this will be white.

More creativity. You can fold, crumple or tie off various places on the apron. I looked at a lot of YouTube videos to get an idea of how to fold fabric to obtain the result I wanted. But in the end, I just have a general idea of the shape of the apron and go with the colors I like. 

Believe me, it will be beautiful.

After you are satisfied with wax application and the folding/crumpling of your apron, place it in the plastic container. Cover the entire project with ice, then sprinkle the powdered dye directly on the ice. I sprinkled ¼ to ½ tsp of each color I used onto the ice. I used a lot of different colors and you can see how they spread out onto the ice. 

As I mentioned before, having a general idea of the shape of the apron will guide you in the application of the dye. For instance, you may want the hem darker and the  bib lighter, or you may just want random colors everywhere.

Let the ice melt and permeate your fabric. The first picture is shortly after the dye application. The second picture is the next day.

I learned there were 2 different approaches to ice dying. One way is to place your project on a rack so the water will collect below the fabric and the other is called muck dyeing. Where the fabric stays in the melted ice/dye mixture. I chose the muck method since I don't have a rack.

Start rinsing in cold water until the water runs relatively clear.. I do all of this in the bathtub.  End your rinse using hotter water to help remove the wax and set the dye.

When you have rinsed out as much dye as possible, place the apron in your washing machine and set the water temperature to extra hot. Add about a teaspoon of dawn blue dishwashing liquid and run the cycle. Limiting the amount of detergent prevents over sudsing, plus I am only doing one project and don’t need a lot of detergent.

Pro note: My class instructor said he takes his projects to the laundromat for the final wash and dry. The washing machines are a lot cleaner when he is finished.

Self explanatory

Apply binding to the apron. I make my own bias binding mostly because I have an overabundance of cotton fabric. The Simplicity pattern has a piece you can cut out to make binding, but that takes a lot of fabric cut on the bias. There are a lot of videos out there on how to do it, and it’s not difficult. Since this Instructable is about the ice dye/batik process, I won’t spend a lot of time on the process. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own bias tape, 2 packages of store bought bias tape will also work. Just make sure it is bias tape. There are a lot of curves on this apron and you will need a little bit of stretch to maneuver them.

If you are going to make your own bias binding, let me save you the heartache of advanced calculations. A 24" square of fabric will give you enough 2" bias binding for this apron.

Wear your beautiful creation with pride. Be sure to tell people you made it. 

I hope this helped. Have fun and happy dyeing!