The thrift store was having a half price sale last week and I found a very nice knit top (either 100 percent cotton, or cotton/poly) for $2.50. It had black trim that I liked, and a pattern with black plus several shades of red and pink that I thought were too bright. I almost passed it up, but I decided to bring it home and run it through a couple baths of black dye. It worked like a charm to considerably darken the colors to shades of purple and burgundy, something I'll enjoy wearing. It even looks more "seasonal" for fall!
By ChloeA from OH
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Cheap alternative dyes from the ThriftyFun community.
By Concetta
By Claudia, MD
By Mary Lou
Also, if the fabric is cotton, a strong coffee or tea can be used to make it look old or to give it a tan or brown look, mix the tea or coffee in water and soak item until desired color is reached. Also try any berry jucie, or even grape juice with vinegar to set.
By martha pitts
Post your own tips below.
I remember my mother using a cold water rinse with salt. She said it would "set the dye". She did this with all the red garments she bought me and the fabrics before she sewed them. In those days not all fabrics were color fast and would fade on a person's undies if caught out in the rain or if you perspired too heavily. Precautions had to be taken and salt was what worked for my mama.
Yes I agree with MartyD, it would best if u set the dyes with something called a mordent. Salt, washing soda and also, believe it or not, rusty nails!
Everyone is forgetting the fun stuff, like cooking onion skins (nice golden yellow), beets for a purplish blue and fleshy green leaves(a soft clouded green)You have to pound these last and put the fabric in without adding too much water.
Aurorasilk.com is a natural dye supplier in Portland, Oregon.
The owner Cheryl Kolander has wonderful tutorials on the
web. I worked for her for a year and answered email, etc.
Natural dying is so much fun...
There are also great tutorials on the web.
I found an alternative source for alum is Oriental food
stores. It comes in chunks which have to be dissolved of
course. Where alum is the appropriate mordant use 10-25%
by weight to dry textile. If you are just experimenting,
start low and work your way up and save your samples.
Alum is THE mordant for wool.
I am trying to dye some curtains white. They were originally an off white. Respond at sandyholy6 AT aol.com
I purchased a bridesmaid dress and never got to use it due to the wedding being called off. Now I'm stuck with a dark charcoal color dress that I was told was not my color.
So I was thinking of dyeing it, but am not sure what color that I could use that would work on transforming it from gray to? Any help?
You will have to dye it a darker color. I would choose black or a dark purple. Black is quite versatile, so I would lean towards that.
Be sure to use the right dye or color remover for the type of material in your dress. Rit does have a dye for polyester now.
You may be able to dye your dress any dark color but sometimes the garment will come out "blotchy". Rit recommends doing a color remover first but this I have never done so I can only recommend this web site:
you can only go darker... unless bleach might take the color out.. find out what material it is and check bleach web site... but wetten thoroughly before putting in solution to bleach and dye evenly. good luck
Dye should work. Make sure that the dye does not make the lace darker than the dress, which is something I have seen happen under these circumstances
I think that charcoal color is beautiful, and cant imagine it looking bad on anyone...maybe who ever told you that is just jealous:-)
Either way, Home dying is very tough, and easy to ruin the item. I think all you need is a great piece of jewelry and just rockin' it!
First, who said it "wasn't your color"? If you like it, leave it. Bleach is really only safe on cottons, which this is not, so avoid bleach-it will ruin it. You can dye darker, but not lighter. Is it too late to take the dress back for a refund?
I have this blue dress that I need to get pink, what is the best way to do this?
I am going to dye some shirts and I only want them to be light purple. I want one large one to be dark purple and then the rest to be light purple. Should I add more water to do the others or does dying one dark take out some of the dye properties? If I do them separately, should I just use one pack for the light? I am doing tiny t-shirts, how many do you think I can do to get them light purple? The shirt I want to be dark is an adult sweater type knit, LG size, 100% cotton tank top. The ones I want to be light are light blue 100% cotton tiny t-shirts.
By Stephaniwize from Phoenix, AZ
I would think that if you put them all in the dye bath, then check the colors periodically, you can remove the ones that you want to be lighter colored sooner, and just leave the ones you want darker in longer. The dye packet should tell you about how many shirts you can do with one packet.
www.ritdye.com may have some answers. Good luck!
I don't use dye. I use acrylic paint. It is much more permanent and you can get any color you want, mix whatever color you want. I thin out the paint with a little water in a small cup, and then I pour warm water into a large bucket, adding the diluted paint to the warm water. Stir well, add the garment, stir again for a couple minutes to distribute the color evenly. Wearing plastic gloves, remove the clothing, squeezing out as much water as you can. Hang on a line until completely dry. (This is what makes the color permanent) It will be a little stiff and smelly!! Wash and dry as usual, and the smell is gone, the color lasts forever, (no fading) and it's not stiff. I swear, I think using the paint helps the fabric last longer. I have tie-dyed using the paint, and the areas that got no paint wore out!
I do this a lot. I'm a costume designer for the theater. My experience has been that the first garment to go in will soak up the most dye in the dye-bath, so whatever you want to be the darkest, put that in first. Get it to the shade you want it (remember that wet cotton will look darker, wet.) and then put your other things in next, checking them frequently. I do this a lot to get the most bang out of my dye-bath, even adding other colors to extend it further! But I always go from darkest shade to lightest, since the bath looses intensity as the various fibers soak up the dye. Good luck to you!
Depending on fabric content on what the final color will be. Dye them separately to ensure each is what color you want. Any piece with even a little synthetic is going to stay lighter. Cotton will be the best absorber. I do a lot of dying of things, from window sheers to husband's work shirts/jeans.
When you are done dying them ( I have a top loader so use my washer and sud saver tub for capture of dye to keep redoing with same) Make sure you wash with a cup of salt to set the dye. Screw ups can be undone with the Rit Dye Remover. If you are redoing the dye job yearly (I do the curtains), un-dye them then use new dye. A pain of a job, but cheaper way to recycle and keep things from the landfills.
Can a green cami be dyed to hunter green, if it is 8% spandex, 46% cotton, and 46% modal by using dye?
By Syd from Goldendale, WA
Probably, yes. Go to DharmaTrading.com and ask their customer service department to recommend the best type of dye to use on this kind of fabric. I'm not an expert, but I think you might be able to dye your cami hunter green. Not sure if RIT dye will work, you can try it, but I would check with someone at DharmaTrading first.
I agree with the previous poster, consult someone who deals in dye products. I am sure there is also a customer service number on the Rit dye box as well. Cotton always dyes well, but I have had good luck dying a satin bathrobe that was some synthetic material.
Yes! I'm a costume designer for the theatre, and I do this a lot; buy clothing in thrift stores and over-dye them to make them into costumes. RIT dye is a multi-fiber dye, so it will work on your cami's various fibers, but you'll need to do it a pot of very hot water in order to dye the synthetic portions. And there's a good chance your cami will shrink a little bit. RIT makes a Hunter Green shade (not in their current palette, but still plenty left in grocery stores, etc.)
Be sure to follow their directions! You'll want to use the correct proportion of salt to set your dye. Good luck!
You can go to RIT on line, they have a free booklet that can be gotten and used with lots of tips.
With a variety of fabric content, you can't always be exact on a certain color, but in the general color should still be good.
Wear rubber gloves and an apron.
I have these stripped stockings I'm trying to turn yellow.
I assume the word you meant to use was striped stockings. Are they white and black stripes? I'm not sure you can dye them yellow because stockings are often synthetic and will dissolve in the bleach you would need to make them white first before dyeing them yellow. But if have white stripes, you could try fabric dye markers to make them black and yellow.
*strips* sorry anyway they're black and orange. I want to make them yellow and orange but bleach didn't work it only made the black bleed into the orange. So do you have any other ideas that may help turn the black into yellow
It's nearly impossible to dye black another color. Your best bet is to get plain white and add color, but the fabric content would have to be high cotton or wool. Good luck!
I was wondering if you could please help me. I have a grey dress with a white collar. I want to match the collar with dress color.
What should I do to achieve this? The fabric is viscose.
There are two answers to your question, one if you know how to sew and the second if you don't. If you don't know how to sew you're going to be far happier (and save money!) by taking your dress to a seamstress or tailor. Either will know how to do the work.
If you sew even if just a little, the answer is too long to post here;) Your best bet is to go to your local library for a good sewing book - Singer Complete Photo Step-by-Step (variations on that name), Creative Press Sewing 101, Simplicity Sewing, or Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing are all good titles and will walk you through all the steps (matching the fabric and colour, choosing the correct needle, thread, and machine settings, more). Also excellent are the Butterick-Vogue sewing books, the Colette book...check the table of contents and index to see if the book addresses 'up-cycling', 'refashioning', 'changing/replacinga collar'.
Your next stop should be YouTube for free video tutorials - these are excellent companions to the books.
Good luck, cute dress as is but a same colour collar would be just as cute and changing the collar isn't really hard if you can follow book instructions!
It is a cute dress, Killer, but I can empathize with you wanting to change the colour. White collars and cuffs seem to show dirt more quickly, dont they (particularly foundation, if you wear it)? I dont know a thing about fabric dyes, but it is an option. That said, I cant imagine dying the collar without getting some dye on the dress itself and matching the dye colour to the dress might be difficult. The other thing which occurs to me is fabric paint. I dont know much about that either, but Ive seen the products and with this you could put an apron or towel on the dress portion to protect it while you work with the collar. The third option to consider is crochet or lace: if you crochet or know someone who does, perhaps cover your existing collar with crochet? Ive also seen lovely lace collars at the fabric store. You could try to match the grey or opt for black which, with a little white from the collar showing through, might be very pretty and easy to tack on with needle and thread. Frugal Sunnies suggestions also bear consideration of course and as sewing projects go, it wouldnt be terribly difficult. If youre not much of a seamstress, what do you think about removing the collar altogether? A simple grey dress could easily be adorned with a variety of scarves or necklaces, right? After carefully cutting the stitches to remove the collar, hand sew / finish the neckline edge and press for a neat appearance.
Good luck!
I have a polyester grey cardigan, grey does not suit me so want to dye it another colour. What colours are possible apart from black, if any? Thanks
I dyed a formal dress from a champagne colour to a blue. I am loving the colour, but in some spots there are darker bits where it dyed too much and the rest of the dress is lighter.
How do I get these darker spots out without removing the rest of the dye?
Have you tried washing it? I think if you wash it one or two times, the excess collection of dye will fade and the dress will even out overall.
I have a dark purple maxi dress made of 97% viscose and 3% elastane and I am wanting to dye it so it is paler in colour. Its for a fancy dress, I'm going as Meg from Hercules. Is this possible and how would I go about this? What is the best product to use?
Many thanks.
I have a champagne colored gown. It is a cotton lace material with a polyestor/rayon lining. Is it possible to dye it silver or black?
If the dress and color change is important, you might consider seeking a professional estimate on the probability of a successful dye and the cost.
I dyed a white nylon dress yellow, wore it twice, and then noticed it had tiny orange spots where apparently the dye didn't blend completely. I washed it and hung it to dry. Then I used a toothbrush to lightly scrub in a 1:3 mixture of Dawn and peroxide on each spot.
I washed the dress again, and hung it to dry. The spots remain. Do you have any suggestions?The problem may be that you tried to dye nylon. Dyes are often made for non-synthetic fabrics.
Can black clothing be dyed charcoal grey or dark brown?
By sandy from Atascadero, CA
I don't think so, you can dye light to dark, but I have never heard of dying dark to light, the only way that it could be done is if you remove the current color first and even so if there are any invisible stains on the item, like there could be on black fabric, they would show up on the re-dyed item.
I just got a cardigan, but I don't like the light grey color. Is it possible to dye the light grey to a charcoal grey without changing the wine color too much? The wine color is on the sleeves and back. The light grey is on the front.
By John D.
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