Dress dyeing help!

[ButtonMoonicorn]

After the "what did you do with your dress" thread, I've been inspired to do something with mine. Our first anniversary is coming up in August and I'd like to wear it out to dinner.

It's not a wedding gown, it's this one. I wore it with a fuschia lace shrug on the day. I think (probably because I KNOW I wore it for my wedding) that it looks too bridal so I'd like to dye it. The fabric is something called bengaline, I've never heard of that before! Anyone know if I could just bung it in the machine with some dylon?

A hopeful bump ..

It depends what it's made of, the link gave no clues and Google says that bengaline is what the fabric looks like (ribbed?) not what it's made of. You need to know the composition of the fabric before you know what dye to use. The care label should say (viscose, acetate, whatever).

I would have thought you'd have to take the bow off, it will stop the dye getting to the fabric behind it and the last thing you want is white patches. It would be risky, you stand a chance of making the dress unwearable, but if you're not going to wear it again as it is what do you have to lose?

What about contacting LindyBop, they may be able to advise you? Also, having a look on the internet, bengaline appears to be a man-made fibre. Are you bothered about keeping the bow on the dress? If not, you could try dyeing that first to see the effect. Also, you need to be aware that sometimes, if you want to dye something darker, then any top stitching, etc may stay the same colour. This happened when I dyed a white jacket black (actually looked okay, but more by good luck than good judgement).

The problem is that bengaline is made of 2 different types of fibre and it can be made from both man-made and/or natural fibres. It use to be made of mostly cotton and a bit of silk, but it could be anything really. You could try finding out what it's made of by doing some strand tests (google is your friend here Ditzy Prints' Fiber Burn Chart and Fabrics.net Fabric Identification etc), or you could just try dyeing a few strands from the dress straight off. Also, because of the nature of the fabric you'd need to make sure you had both warp and weft strands for both methods. If you'd rather avoid doing this, not everyone has my scientific interest in setting fire to things get in contact with Lindypop and ask them as has previously been suggested.
You need to know that it is highly unlikely that the thread used to stitch your dress will take over dyeing. I find procion dyes are the best to dye with, these are easily obtained on-line and don't need too strong a mordant to open the fibres of the fabric. They won't work on man made fibres though, except nylon but then you need to use vinegar and heat to replace the soda ash. If it's a man made fibre then you'll need to go hot dye, Procion do make one but you'll also need a non-aluminium pot large enough to hold everything which could work out a bit expensive.
Who knew the massive dye thing I did for my second year degree would come in handy, combined with a knowledge of historical garments it's amazing I can function as an adult with the useless rubbish in my head!

FontOfAllUselessInformationHowCanIHelpTiggaxx

DawnTigga that was amazing, like reading a textbook!

I'm scared of ruining it, I probably won't wear it again as it is (though I might try to get some suggestions from S and B on how to dress it down a little) but I don't want to chuck it either...

have you thought about making a chiffon over skirt and instead of dressing it down make a statement? There is no way of ruining it and you can ring the changes with different over skirts.

BlushingTiggaxx