Scruffy up fabric

[Marietta Graziella]

I've just purchased a dark brown (almost burlap weave but much softer) fabric for my son's cloak.  He wants me to make him a video game monks robe for Halloween.  My question is, now that I have this pristine bit of fabric, how do I make it look old, worn, dirtied, variations in shading, etc.?  

*just to clarify, he does want this robe done before the end of fest so he can wear it this season*   

[Captain Jack Wolfe]

A finishing sander with fine grit paper.  Tumbling it with gravel will work, too.

[Taffy Saltwater]

A quick google found this:  http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Fabric/Distressing.htm

[Margaret]

Bury them in the garden for a few days and then hang them up outside for about a month.

Seriously.

[Syrilla]

Dragging behind a car or 4 wheeler is fun and useful!

[LadyShadow]

I've always told mine to put them on and go play rough outside and wear it down that way.

[Butch]

I have dragged a shirt behind the car to rough it up.  Once around the block does quite a bit!

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

Are you near a body of water?  Back in the 70's, before jeans came prewashed and soft, I used to buy Levis, tie a rope around them and throw them in the canal in our back yard.  Left them in for a week, took them out, laid them on the dirt and gravel driveway while still wet and drove the original Chiquita back and forth over them about a dozen times.

Then rinsed them off with the hose and threw them in the washing machine and dryer 3 or 4 times.  It worked.

[LadyFireKissed]

something tells me that people are having a bit to much fun with this topic, its funny to read

[Taffy Saltwater]

Another jeans treatment from days when I was younger & skinnier:  Put on jeans, sit in hot tub, adding more hot water as it cools, go outside & lay down in the sun letting the jeans dry on your body.  Or jeans so tight you would have to use a pair of pliers to zip them.

[Kate XXXXXX]

Just to drag things back to the 'sane' and 'normal'...

Kate's Notes on Distressing Fabric*:

The aim should be to make something LOOK worn rather than to wear out the fabric, to make it LOOK grubby rather than be dirty...  You want it too look old, but retain the strength of the new fabric.

Yes, scruff up things and wear them by grating, rubbing, and otherwise wreaking the fabric - but then stabilize the wreaked areas so they get no worse!  You don't want the garb to fall to bits off your back - you only want it to look as if it's about to do that! 

A good fabric for stabilizing worn areas is silk organza: neatly patched in behind a hole or thin area, it will be almost invisible.  And you can cut a hole in it to match the outer fabric hole and then hand stitch it to the edge of the hole, fraying in the edges of the silk to match the outer fabric frayed area, but leaving both fabrics no room to ravel further.  Use a good quality fine silk thread in a colour that matches or blends well, and no-one will see the darned edges of your careful rips! 

Scrub worn or holed areas into something and then use old fashioned hand darning to fix it: you get the wear and the mend making the whole thing look more authentic!

Make sure that your worn and ripped areas are in likely places...  Ragged cuffs and hems, worn knees and elbows, worn waist areas, and the occasional split armscye seam look much better than random holes.  Remember to stabilize the ends of the split seams.  And the seam allowances...

Dirt marks, scorches, and stains can be made with the careful application by air brush of thinned acrylic paints and fabric dyes for hand dying.  Remember to heat set them.  These will have the advantage of not washing out when the garment needs to be laundered.  For health and safety reasons I would never advocate real dirt...

For oily stains, yes, use a light and careful application of something inert, like sewing machine oil.  If you wash the garment gently, you'll leave the stain still there for several washes, and when it finally fades, it can be renewed with more oil...  If you want black oily stains, use black acrylic paint and then, once heat set, drop oil on top carefully.

Some food stuffs, such as turmeric, can be used for temporary dying, but you are better off using the dyes and paints, as these tend to be less prone to fading.  Tea dying to different strengths can be very effective at aging fabrics, especially silk.  Tea is mildly acid, and therefore a good one for silk: it stays in for several washes and is easily re-done when it finally fades.

Once you have aged the garment to your satisfaction, launder it gently (if the fabric will take it), drip/line dry, and shake madly to soften, rather than ironing.  When laundering, use a non-biological detergent without optical whiteners.  You whites will eventually take on a slightly dusty look like old cotton, and the powder won't eat the fabrics or any tea dye used.  Look for it in the planet saving/hand-knitted yoghurt brigade shops.

Scruffy eejits of the world unite!   

*Gleaned from all over the place when researching distressing methods for a wedding gown for Miss Havisham!  It ended up with holes, 'scorch' marks, grubby areas, and a tangle of withered roses caught in the hem!

[isabelladangelo]

Wash it.   Use some lemon juice on it and let it dry outside for a couple of hours.   Scrubbing it with an SOS pad can be amusing too but I like the dragging it behind the truck idea better.

[Marietta Graziella]

Wonderful ideas from the fanatical to the practical.  LOL

Thanks everyone.  I should be able to incorporate several ideas to get the look he wants.

[Dinobabe]

*Gleaned from all over the place when researching distressing methods for a wedding gown for Miss Havisham!  It ended up with holes, 'scorch' marks, grubby areas, and a tangle of withered roses caught in the hem!

OK, you know we have to see pictures of that!

[Kate XXXXXX]

Nope - not for public consumption, at the client's request.  Sorry.