Heather dyed fabric and method of producing same

A process for dyeing textile garments to achieve a heather-like appearance comprising:

• immersing textile garments in an aqueous bath containing 10 to 100 g/l of a quaternary ammonium compound and caustic soda in an amount sufficient to produce a pH of at least 13;
• extracting the garments to a wet pickup of about 100 percent or less;
• storing the extracted garments at room temperature in a closed container for about 4 to 24 hours to allow the quaternary ammonium compound to react with the fibers of the garments;
• rinsing the garments to remove unreacted quaternary ammonium compound;
• immersing the garments in an aqueous bath at a pH of less than 7 and while the garments are in said bath gradually introducing dyestuffs to the bath over a period of at least 15 minutes;
• and
• fully exhausting the dyestuffs onto the garments.

A process for dyeing textile garments, comprising

• loading garments containing cellulosic fibers into the drum of a rotary washer/extractor;
• introducing into the washer/extractor an aqueous caustic scouring bath and tumbling and thoroughly wetting the garments with the scouring bath;
• removing the scouring bath and introducing an alkaline aqueous pretreatment bath comprising a fiber reactive cationic compound at a concentration of 10 to 100 g/l and at a liquor to goods ratio of 5:1 or greater;
• tumbling and thoroughly wetting the garments with the pretreatment bath;
• removing the pretreatment bath from the drum;
• extracting the garments to a wet pickup of about 100 percent or less;
• removing the garments from the drum;
• wrapping the garments in wet fabric and placing the wrapped garments in a closed container;
• storing the garments in the closed container at room temperature for at least 4 hours;
• removing the garments from the container and placing them in a rotary dye machine;
• introducing a rinse bath into the dye machine and thoroughly rinsing the garments;
• introducing into the dye machine an aqueous bath at a pH of 7 or lower, a temperature of about 70 to 100.degree. F. and at a liquor to goods ratio of about 10:1 or higher;
• gradually adding dyestuffs to the bath over a period of about 10 to 30 minutes while agitating the garments in the dye machine;
• gradually heating the bath to a temperature of about 180.degree. F. to 200.degree. F.;
• cooling the garments and removing them from the dye machine.

A process for dyeing textiles to achieve a heather-like appearance comprising:

• impregnating a textile fabric with an aqueous pretreatment composition comprising a fiber reactive cationic compound;
• aging the impregnated fabric in a moistened state for about 4 to 24 hours to allow the fiber reactive cationic compound to react with the fibers of the fabric;
• rinsing the fabric to remove unreacted cationic compound;
• immersing the fabric in an acidic aqueous bath;
• gradually adding dyestuffs to the acidic aqueous bath at a dyestuffs concentration of from 0.1 to 2 percent of the weight of the goods, and correlated with the concentration of said cationic compound in said pretreatment composition such that the following relationship is achieved:
• Cat. Comp. (g/l)=(% Dye.times.20)+at least 20;
• and
• exhausting the dyestuffs onto the fabric.

A process for dyeing textile garments to achieve a heather-like appearance comprising:

• immersing textile garments in an aqueous bath containing 10 to 100 g/l of a quaternary ammonium compound and caustic soda in an amount sufficient to produce a pH of at least 13;
• extracting the garments to a wet pickup of about 100 percent or less;
• storing the extracted garments at room temperature in a closed container for about 4 to 24 hours to allow the quaternary ammonium compound to react with the fibers of the garments;
• rinsing the garments to remove unreacted quaternary ammonium compound;
• immersing the garments in an aqueous acidic bath and while the garments are in said bath gradually introducing dyestuffs to the bath at a dyestuffs concentration of from 0.1 to 2 percent of the weight of the goods, and correlated with the concentration of said quaternary ammonium compound in said pretreatment composition such that the following relationship is achieved:
• Quat Comp. (g/l)=(% Dye.times.20)+at least 20;
• and
• exhausting the dyestuffs onto the garments.

A process for dyeing textile garments, comprising

• loading garments containing cellulosic fibers into the drum of a rotary washer/extractor;
• introducing into the washer/extractor an aqueous caustic scouring bath and tumbling and thoroughly wetting the garments with the scouring bath;
• removing the scouring bath and introducing an alkaline aqueous pretreatment bath comprising a fiber reactive cationic compound at a concentration of 10 to 100 g/l and at a liquid to goods ratio of 5:1 or greater;
• tumbling and thoroughly wetting the garments with the pretreatment bath;
• removing the pretreatment bath from the drum;
• extracting the garments to a wet pickup of about 100 percent or less;
• removing the garments from the drum;
• wrapping the garments in wet fabric and placing the wrapped garments in a closed container;
• storing the garments in the closed container at room temperature for at least 4 hours;
• removing the garments from the container and placing them in a rotary dye machine;
• introducing a rinse bath into the dye machine and thoroughly rinsing the garments;
• introducing into the dye machine an aqueous acidic bath at a temperature of about 70 to 100.degree. F. and at a liquid to goods ratio of about 10:1 or higher;
• gradually adding dyestuffs to the bath over a period of least about 10 minutes at a dyestuffs concentration of from 0.1 to 2 percent of the weight of the goods, and correlated with the concentration of said cationic compound in said pretreatment composition such that the following relationship is achieved:
• Cat. Comp. (g/l)=(% Dye.times.20)+at least 20,
• and while agitating the garments in the dye machine;
• gradually heating the bath to a temperature of about 180.degree. F. to 200.degree. F.;
• and cooling the garments and removing them from the dye machine.

A process for dyeing textiles to achieve a heather-like appearance comprising:

• impregnating a textile fabric containing cellulosic fibers with an aqueous pretreatment composition containing 10 to 100 g/l of a quaternary ammonium compound and caustic soda in an amount sufficient to produce a pH of at least 13;
• aging the impregnated fabric in a moistened state for about 4 to 24 hours to allow the pretreatment composition to react with the fibers of the fabric;
• rinsing the fabric to remove unreacted quaternary ammonium compound;
• immersing the fabric in an acidic aqueous bath at a pH of 5.5 to 6;
• gradually adding dyestuffs to the acidic aqueous bath at a dyestuffs concentration of from 0.1 to 2 percent of the weight of the goods, and correlated with the concentration of said quaternary ammonium compound in said pretreatment composition such that the following relationship is achieved:
• Cat. Comp. (g/l)=(% Dye.times.20)+at least 20;
• and
• exhausting the dyestuffs onto the fabric.