How to dye the un-dye-able dress...??

[SelkieSeal]

I bought a ferociously flattering dress in a second hand shop a while ago but it's brown, and I don't wear brown. Simple, I thought. The label says 95% modal which should dye with Dylon. I'll dye it black.

Dylon didn't work. So I tried Rit all purpose dye - also didn't work. Moved into Rit synthetic dye which should dye anything - also didn't work. It's still bloody brown, albeit a slightly darker shade.

What dye will definitely dye modal?

It's because of the 5 percent of whatever the rest of the material is it won't dye. It needs to be cotton.

No idea!

But can you accessorize it with belt/ collar in a different colour?

Some people stencil / paint clothes, but I think you need to be seriously handy for that!

The other 5% is lycra but that isn't why it won't dye, fabric that's 5% lycra can still dye beautifully (I dye clothes all the time but I've never found something that won't change colour like this before!).

Can you bleach it and then colour it?