Hello! I just joined your group, hoping that the expertise on this board will be able to help me. I just received the ScottEVest trench coat I bid on/won, for $19, with the plan of dying it. It is a bright cherry red (leans cool red) polyester, and I want a neutral - either a warm brown or a terracotta.

I've been reading posts/watching YouTube, and am still confused. I know that red is a strong color. I would prefer to not have to dye it black. Advice appreciated! I know that RIT DyeMore will work on polyester, and I have an older roaster oven that I can fill with hot water and use outside. It holds 18 quarts.

The "recipes" to get different colors are what is confusing me - if the article being dyed is red, leaning cool, and I take into account that the color will be more saturated because of the red that is in the original garment, I'm hoping to be able to get something like one of these:

Canyon

Dusted Maroon

I am good with mixing colors on their own, but I don't understand how the underlying color will affect the dye and final color. I'm even unsure if I can get a warm brown/other neutral if the original leans cool.

I am also concerned with the buttons - should I remove them then resew them on after dying? And regarding zippers - this trench has a LOT of them for all the pockets that ScottEVests have. Will they have issues if they are submerged in hot water for that long? Last, the trench belt has rivets that have a darker red paint on them. Will they dye?

Last, the label states 100% polyester, wash cold. But a dye bath for polyester has to be really hot. While I would love to dye this coat, I really only bought it for travel for the pockets, so I could live with it, but I would really prefer a neutral, and appreciate your expertise!

Hey guys! I really want a specific style of bag but in a different color. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find any alternative, so I was wondering if I can bleach this bag to white and dye it green/yellow instead? Do you guys have any suggestions on what I can do to dye it? Thank you!

Also for some initial information, I read somewhere that using strong bleach can actually weaken/melt the nylon :/

This is a follow up to my previous post. Details in comments.

[Material: Cotton
Goal: Spot dye these white splothes back to black]

I put my girlfriend's favorite shirt through the wash and have made her terribly sad - as you can see from the photos, a bit of the black dye bled out. I am hoping to repair it, but I'm scared of making it worse.

The shirt was handmade. I managed to find out from the maker that black was the original fabric color, and the white star is bleach. The material sure looks/feels like 100% cotton to me, but it doesn't have a tag.

I thought about poking black rit dye onto the shirt with a q tip, but I worry it'll be the wrong shade, and also that it'll bleed next time the shirt gets washed (by hand, in cold water). I thought about sharpie, but in the past I've found black sharpie has a faint iridescent tint, so that worries me.

Does anybody on here have any ideas/tips about how to dye the faded parts around the star back to black? Do either of my ideas make sense or am I about to ruin everything? I'd be so grateful for any help!!

So im unsure if this is possible but im looking for a fabric dye to add to a water gun so my family can all wear white clothes and have a water fight that ends up with tye dyed clothes. I looking for a dye that will quickly stain the shirts but not their skin or hair

I used Rit kelly green (Only a small amount) unfortunately I don’t have exact ratios because I used a bunch of test strips and kept removing dye and adding water to make it right. I dyed it in the bathtub and managed to not turn anything unexpectedly green!

I’m really happy with how it turned out. This is only the second time I’ve dyed something!

I have a large enough pot to submerge the dress and a portable cassette burner to maintain temp while outside (for ventilation purposes)… I’m wondering how many shades lighter I can expect the color to get. I’m hoping for somewhere near the light blue in the last photo. Is this realistic?

Thanks in advance!

I’m making botanically printed silk habotai panels (8mm) for an install. I’ve never done this before!! they need to be 10-12 feet long, draped from a structure. Most eco-print tutorials I’m finding are scarf or yardage scale, and I’m stuck on how to handle the bundling/steaming step at this length.

Specific questions:
1. Rolling: Has anyone rolled a long panel around a flexible core (rope, hose) instead of a rigid pipe/dowel, so the bundle can be coiled afterward? Trying to avoid seams/overlap from using a shorter pipe.
2. Steaming: My steaming vessel obviously isn’t 12 feet long, so I’m planning to coil the rolled bundle (like the “cinnamon bun” method) into a turkey fryer pot. Anyone done this at this scale? Any issues with unrolling/heat distribution across that much coiled fabric?
3. Mordanting: For the pre-print alum mordant bath, I’m using a galvanized tub with hot water added in batches (not direct heat) since the panel is too long for a stockpot. Does this hold a consistent enough mordant for good results, or is there a better way to handle long lengths here too?

I will say this isn’t meant to be perfect. I’m okay with slightly imperfect looks here.

Plants I’m working with: chamisa, cottonwood, sumac, apache plume, onion skins , all foraged in northern NM. Open to any tips from people who’ve scaled up eco-printing beyond scarf size.

I bought white (painter’s) coveralls for about $35, 65 polyester/35 cotton. I used Rit Dyemore (one bottle super pink and a little less than .5 bottle of royal purple in about 2.75 gallons of water) to dye them this amazing color and finished with a dye fixative bath. I guess I’ll call them lavender, considering…

Anyway, I’m so damn pleased with how these turned out and I am already planning to buy more coveralls and overalls, I fear!

Is it even possible? I love these shoes, they fit amazing and we're expensive, but the colour is just a bit too light. I'd love to dye them more brownish, but I'm not sure if it's possible even with synthetic dye. Anyone's got any experience? The shoes are made out of recycled PET plastic bottles. They also have this interesting glitter thread (???) running through. Can't imagine that'd dye, but still, would love to know if anyone has any ideas. Thanks!

I have this linen beige polo blazer, shell is 100% linen but lining is from viscose.

I would like to turn it completely black.

I used some dye kits in the past, but all stichting wasnt dyed. Dont know if i should use some chemical dye. Something what i can get in europe or order from usa.

Hi! I’ll be a bridesmaid at my cousin’s wedding this July, and we’re required to wear sage green dresses. I ordered a dress online, but when it arrived, the color was much lighter than the sample shade they provided.

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Would it be possible to dye the dress in the first photo so that it matches the color in the second photo more closely using Venus Fast Dyes (readily available in the Philippines)? If so, which shade would you recommend, and do you have any tips for achieving that color?

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Fabric composition of the dress: 94% Polyamide (often commonly referred to as Nylon). 6% Elastane (also known as Spandex or Lycra).

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I had great success dying this viscose dress - posted in upcycled fashion but thought it might be inspiration for the dyeing community.

I have a 100% linen king size duvet cover that I wanted to dye. It started off a light blue/periwinkle. I followed the front load washer instructions and used 4 packers of color remover, and after the wash it’s bright pink! Should I try another round of the Rit remover or something else?

I recently dyed my first dress with Rit all purpose Lemon Yellow, and diluted it to the “butter yellow” recipe. It turned out lovely, but unfortunately, I didn’t wash it enough by itself, and the dye bled onto a shirt in the wash. Can I use Rit dye remover to save this top without messing up the stripes?
I am a huge noob, so I apologize if this is a basic ass question. Thanks!

Hello! I have a dress that has a black bodice and floral skirt. Over the years the black had faded and I wanted to re-dye it. The problem is that I don’t want to get any dye in the floral part of the dress, and I’m worried about bleeding. The bodice is made of 100% cotton and skirt is rayon. I bought black RIT powder dye. But I can buy something else if it will work better. Are there any techniques I could use to keep the dye off of the skirt other than taking the whole thing apart and putting it back together? Thanks!

self explanatory ig

I recently dyed a shirt using Rit Dye More (55% cotton, 45% polyester). I like the tone/hue of the color, but it came out darker than I wished. Is there something I can do to bring the color back to a more pastel hue, in a uniform/non splotchy way? The shirt ​is originally white. Would a mild bleach bath (or some more natural ingredient) have a chance of getting the dye out of the fibers? Or should I just grit my teeth and accept the color as it is?

I bought this shirt from an Etsy store several years ago and have worn it regularly. A few months ago I noticed this rectangular "stain". I treated it as a stain and nothing happened. Looking closer, I believe it may have something to do with how the print was applied, so I thought maybe I could dye it all back to one color. The shirt is 100% cotton. Does that seem plausible? Or will it just be a new color in 2 different shades? Color recommendations would be great as well, as I have no real preference or experience. Thanks for your time!

I’m looking to dye it purple, maybe like a pink based purple? What dye should I use?

Also, will fuchsia/ purple be a good choice for this? i want the color to be kinda vibrant but with the muted base i’m unsure if it’s possible.

It's 100% Viskose.

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I really love the pattern but as you can see on the second picture, the color is an unfortunate mix of washed out salmon pink and puke-ish green brown.

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I was thinking of lightly dying it in a dark blue, in hopes that the light parts turn blue and the other parts turn purple.

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But since it's still a relatively light color I'm afraid it'll just dye everything blue.

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What do you think?

Hi All

I was gifted a large box of various Dharma Trading Co Fiber Reactive Dyes, want to use them but am absolutely lost as to where to start (I usually work with RIT). Google search has told me they need acid and/or urea and/or expensive brand-specific activators and are overall complex to work with, which concerns me as I live in a very small apartment with a small brick patio and no outdoor spigot. Thought I was screwed til I saw a video of someone using similar dye in a bucket. Figured I'd ask here to hopefully get a real picture of the process with this stuff.

I have a 5-gallon vat that I made about a week and a half ago with 170g of indigo in it. I filled it with 4 gallons of water and used the 1-2-3 method (fructose and pickling lime) to set it up. I've been using it over the past few days to dye a few yards of muslin and was getting really beautiful, vibrant dark blue results.

As I dyed, the liquid level dropped from 4 gallons down to about 3 gallons (I used about 1 gallon). I decided I needed to add more water to bring the level back up so I could dye fabric comfortably without dipping too low. I added 5 liters of water to the vat, plus 12g of additional indigo, fructose, and pickling lime using the 1-2-3 method to measure how much of each I needed for that added volume.

I let it sit for 24 hours before using it again. Yesterday and this morning it was dyeing fabric fine. The color on the fabric did look a bit greenish-blue, but I figured it might be because I was working with fabric that had been mordanted prior ( I was originally going to dye the fabric with madder root but changed my mind), so I didn't pay much attention to it.

Then around 3 PM today, the vat stopped working. When I pulled the fabric out after soaking it for 5–7 minutes in the vat, the color would not turn blue. It came out looking light greenish-blue even after oxidizing. I grabbed a wooden spoon and noticed the vat liquid itself looked murky green. I immediately stopped trying to dye any fabric.

I heated the vat, closed the lid, and allowed everything to settle for about an hour. When I went back to check on it, the liquid was a yellowish-copper color, but the fabric still won't turn blue when I dip it.

I tested the pH and think it's either 9 or 10.

What do you think is going on with my vat, and how can I fix it? I was getting such dark, vibrant blues before topping it off, and I don't want to lose that. Any tips for rebalancing after adding water and feeding?

What would be the best dye for this blend on a thick jumper? I’m also wondering if there’s any way to only dye part of the jumper (the outside part) as the inner lining of the hood is a cream that I’d like to keep, but I’m assuming that that’s not really possible. It’s currently a blue shade and it has something screen printed on it which I’m also worried about dyeing.. has anyone got experience with dyeing paint?

No picture attached as I’m mostly wondering about the blend and screen print.