Here to dye, gone tomorrow?

[ChipButty]

Anyone used dye on curtains in washing machine, please? I am looking to dye a pair of green curtains pink. The green goes through light to dark gradually. I want the curtains to be palish pink. Will it work and can anyone recommend a good dye? Thanks in advance! CB xx

I suspect that if you want to dye from a darker shade to a lighter shade then you will have to bleach the darker colour out before putting the dye on, even then it's not guaranteed to work.

Dyeing anything from dark to light (hair or fabric) is always a gamble.

From what I know (v little) the Dylon dyes are good.

From what I know (v little) the Dylon dyes are good.

sorry, pc went funny

Thanks for replies!

Well I am an Art teacher, and a D&T textiles teacher, and am not sure you can do what you want!

Dylon dyes are good, but if you add pink dye to green cloth, you will get a browny colour I suspect. Red (pink) and green are complementary colurs, and when mixed together will create a tertiary (brown). Have just been drumming this into Y7!

I suspect you would nedd to strip out green colour first, to get a nice pink. All dye is affected by background colour.

This was my worry, FizzBuzz: Thanks for your comprehensive reply!

This reminds me of a teacher I know who took the stage velour curtains home to dye in the washing machine. Yes Dylon is good, but the curtains were so big they didnt dye evenly. Ended up with blotchy blue curtains - worse than before.

We have a blotchy throw for the same reasons!

Also, you need to check the cotton content of the curtains - ours didn't take at all!!

Looks like I may just have to shell out for some new ones! Thanks for all the great advice (and apologies for the cheesy thread title!!)

I do quite a lot of dying have used some dylon colour stripper recently and there was quite a low weight limit for it.

Also remember you can only dye half the weight quantity of your wm drum, I have a 7kg machine so can dye 3.5 kg of dry fabric (needs to be damp for dying though). So may be worth weighing you curtains before buying/starting anything!

One pack of dylon wm dye can dye 5-600g of white fabric to the colour on the box, or a lighter shade if you have more fabric. You can use up to 5 packs in one batch, you will still need 500g salt however many packs you use.

The dye only works on natural fabrics, not synthetic, so if you have cotton trousers with polyester thread, the thread stays the original colour. Can be nice, or disaterous.

Dylon dyes are excellent. Going from dark to light very difficult. Going from light to dark much better. Going from one colour to another very tricky as you can't really predict what the outcome will be. You need to find out what the thread the curtains are made from as if it's not cotton it may just stay its orgional colour. I dyed a pair of cream curtains maroon and they took really well but the thread was still cream so it did have a 'jeans' like look about them.

If they are a really important pair of curtains that have to ber right, don't so it.
If it saves you a bit of money and you don't mind the outcome, have a go!