to machine dye my sofa covers?

[Afint]

Just that really. Has anyone done it? Will it end in horrible, patchy disaster?

I have an IKEA Ektorp sofa and I want a new cover for it. I’ve trawled the internet for one in the colour I want And none of the companies that make them have that colour. So if I buy the Ikea white ektorp cover, can I dye it with Dylon in the washing machine? And as Dylon don’t do the bloody elusive colour that I am looking for either, can I colour mix the dye?
I’ve had a look online and found some success stories and some horror stories but looking for relatively recent experiences as I think the machine dyes changed recipe at some point in the last few years.

I dyed some towels and bedding. The towels came out great, very bright but the bedding was a bit patchy.

I think it depends on the colour (towels were bright blue, bedding yellow) and the fabric you're dying.

What colour are you going for?

I've done this with an Ektorp (wanted a black one, which was far more expensive than a white one plus a few packets of dye!) I used Dylon but one of the standard colours - don't know how you'd get on mixing your own.

I was very happy with the results - strong colour, very even. Only thing to be aware of is that the thread is made of a different material and will stay white. But the thread is barely visible anyway.

What material is the cover made out of? Polyester and other synthetic fibres are a bitch to dye. That said there are specialist dyes for synthetic fabric (Dylon won’t cut it). Cotton you will have more success with however remember the stitching will be polyester so you could end up with white contrasting stitching!

Can you fit the entire cover set in the washing machine at once? If not, it's going to be difficult if you want to colour mix the dye.

I dyed an IKEA chair cover but it was a good 6 years ago. Used the Dublin machine dye and it came out perfect. Though as has already been pointed out the thread didn't dye so you can still see that, but it looks nice with the white thread against the bright red fabric.

It’s 100% cotton so fine for dyeing. I’m just concerned about it being patchy because although I’ve dyed lots of things before in the washing machine I’ve never dyed anything anywhere near as large. Also concerned because the washing instructions say max 60 degrees but dyeing instructions ask you to use the hottest cycle (which would be 90 for my machine) - will the extra hot wash shrink the covers?

I would do them by hand in an old bath tub type contraption . You won't get them all in at once and they need a lot of space to move round in the machine to colour ..
have you tried the stretchy covers you can get on eBay etc that go over the top of any sofa ?

Honestly, I would hand dye in a very large bucket for something that size - there is also a greater colour range for hand dyes and you will be able to mix pigments more easily. Plus it’s all done at lower temperatures so no shrinkage concerns!

Tempted to use my bath for the dyeing but I rent and am scared of accidentally dyeing it

Not Dublin, Dylon! Bloody autocorrect!!

No don’t do that! 100% you will stain the bath (unless it’s Stainless Steel).

Hmmmm, could my garden wheelie bin be used for the purpose of cleaned first?

Yes that’s a good idea! I’m sure the council won’t care/notice!

RIGHT. A plan is slowly being formulated. Has anyone ever used Rit dyes? They do the colour I want so no faffing with colour mixing, but I’ve never used them before.

Just use the machine at 60 degrees. It'll be fine

I came to give some info regarding my own dyeing experiments and learnt that you can use your wheelie bin for hand dyeing Ektorp!

I don’t think that washing machines can handle the big cover. The three seater one is far too heavy for the machines in the laundrettes and, as a previous poster said, the cover will come out patchy. Wheelie bin is a genius idea

I literally hit upon this idea myself last night -also for an ektorp - how funny.

I want to dye mine because it's a bit faded and tired looking though. Will this mean it won't be even? Also mine is green and I want to go teal. Possibly it won't work? I don't have a bin or any outdoor space so it would need to be in the machine.

I don’t think that washing machines can handle the big cover. The three seater one is far too heavy for the machines in the laundrettes and, as a previous poster said, the cover will come out patchy.

Mine came out just fine - but I did the big cover as one load and the seat cushions as a separate load.

I want to dye mine because it's a bit faded and tired looking though. Will this mean it won't be even?

It is a bit of a gamble, but I've re-dyed mine after it had become a bit faded -and covered in baby sick stains- and it came out just as even as when it was brand new.

Strikethrough fail!

Friend did it , from brown to navy and it looks amazing - like a new sofa !

She used the Dylon machine packs

I bought one in the fabric I wanted from a Chinese supplier on bay (ektorp 3 seater). I think if you try to mix dye it will come out uneven (I did consider dying mine). Also is your drum big enough to comfortably get it all in? I think it’s about 8kg?

Some people have dyed them successfully but I’m very happy with my ebay one - I think it’s Linda Lees store on eBay

PowerslidePanda
Did you use Dylon? How big is your machine? Did you weigh the covers to ensure the weight of fabric was fully within the right range? Sorry I am asking too many questions. Have done some mistakes so want to be sure.

Thanks powerslidepanda, I think I'll give it a go then!. I can fit mine in the machine doing the cushion covers separately. I was going to get one of those slip cover things anyway until I thought of this but hesitated because it will look obvious that I'm covering it up. So I can always do that anyway if it goes wrong but if it goes right it will look better than a slip cover.