Dyeing or Painting Stained Cloth Seats?

I've been thinking about trying something different with my cherry wood dining chairs with white cloth seats. Over the years, I've had several stains that I couldn't get out no matter what I tried.

Rather than bleaching, recovering or anything else with the seats, I thought maybe I could use some kind of dye, coloring or paint/stain to put a multicolor print on them. Is there some kind of dye or paint I could use to color the stained white cloth? It would be very unique, bright and pretty.

I just worry that whatever I use may eventually begin wearing off on people's behinds if I don't use the right stuff!

Any guidance?

Thanks :)

Mary from Ohio...

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JoAnn

July 12, 20050 found this helpful

I tried this with my dining room chairs a few years back (my daughter had taken magic marker to them)...I used Rit dye...however, I didn't exactly follow the directions, I think I left the salt out. The chairs looked beautiful when I was finished!...We had just redecorated our living/dining room in blacks and browns (I know it sounds like a dungeon but it's very restful). Anyways, we had some company over so we asked them to stay for dinner. My husband was wearing tan shorts and ran out to turn off the sprinkler outside, which squirted him a little in the behind.

To make a long story short, we had a good laugh when he got up from dinner...his pants were BROWN on the seat and it's a good thing he has a good sense of humor! I'm not sure where I went wrong, it may have been not following the directions, it may have been the stain resistance on the seats that didn't allow the dye to penetrate, ....just BE CAREFUL! I ended up recovering them anyways which was really easy with a staple gun and they look nice again. My inlaws thought I got new chairs.

Katie

July 12, 20050 found this helpful

Like the suggestion below--it is really easy to recover the kinds of chairs that have the seat that screws off. Please try this instead of coloring them. You'd probably have to take the seats off to do that anyway, so why not just recover them with some great new fabric from the sale rack at the fabric store? You can even add a layer of clear vinyl if you choose fabric that is too thin or if you have youthful guests and you want to protect the seats.

Just lay down the clear vinyl (buy it from the rolls at the back of JoAnn's or other full-service fabric stores), then the decorative fabric (face down), then plop your cushion face down on it. Pull the plastic and fabric around to the back of the seat botton, staple it, then screw it back on the chair frame.

greg

April 27, 20070 found this helpful

I have used a fabric spray paint on my van and some furniture. It worked great. Dries soft and did not rub off.
It is called Simply Spray. They now have a special upholstery paint too. You can find it online by searching for Fabric Spray Paint.

By Linda (Guest Post)

November 11, 20080 found this helpful

My daughter called and was so upset. She somehow had left stains (brown) on several new pieces of clothes. What in God's green earth could take this out? Thanks, Linda

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