Talk to me about dyEing

[SwishFish]

I found a dress that fits my awkward shape perfectly but I hate the colour on me. It completely washes me out. They don’t have it in any other colours and I got it in the sale too.

I’m thinking of dyeing it navy blue but have never done it before.

It’s a white dress with coloured flowers (see photo (hopefully)). It’s 100% viscose.

Do you think it will work? I’d hate to ruin it.

Dress

Have a look at iDye. The website is in the US but you can get the dyes over here

You'll need to read about the different fabrics and whether you might need a poly or cotton dye (or both)

My gut feel is that it won't come out how you will want it as the different colours on the pattern will dye in different ways (murky flowers most likely) and the stitching thread may not pick up the dye at all (unless you use poly dye)

Is the fabric woven or is it printed?
If it is printed, I think only the background will dye properly.
The stitching is probably polyester and using something like Dylon will not change the colour, so it might stand out a bit.

I've used Dylon in the washing machine lots of times. It works best on natural fibres, as others say polyester stitching often does not dye. I don't usually dye anything that I'm not prepared to lose. You might find the pattern still shows through somewhat.

Thank you all.

I think it’s printed. I’m really not very good with these things which is probably more reason not to give it a go.

I’d hate to ruin it. What a shame.

You could wear a scarf or something to distance the colour from your face

Thank you @KirstenBlest that’s a good idea.

I might keep hold of it and try it with a few different things. Maybe eventually I’ll be brave enough to give a dye a go.

I've dyed lots of things with Dylon. I'm a big fan. You need to see if the dress is viscose (picks up colour ok) or full on polyester ((nightmare for dyeing).

Sure the flowers might still be visible but it would look like an colour on colour effect.

Would you rather maybe ruin this dress or never wear it as you don't like the colour?

www.dylon.co.uk/en/home/blog/which-fabrics-can-I-dye.cky.html

May I ask - if I dye a dress which says it's 95% viscose 5% elastane, is it likely to work if use Dylon? Or should I use a synthetic dye just in case? Going from link to dark green 🤞

*pink not link

If you aren't going to take it back then you don't lose anything by dying it! I dyed a cream cashmere jumper which had got tired and a bit grubby, I ummed and ahed for ages but realised I never wore it any more...it turned out brilliantly and I've had years more use out of it. Could you try and dye it another light colour so it just picks up the background a bit maybe?

It says in the link. Anything with up to 50% man-made fibre will be fine. Viscose is classed as a natural fibre, but it may come out lighter than the dye would on 100% cotton for example.

Give it a try OP as you wouldn't wear it otherwise.
I'm no expert but I think trial and error is your friend here. If there's any way you could remove a bit of fabric from the hem, under a collar or doubling on the inside or pockets? Try and dye that first?
I wanted to dye an 100% cotton dress in deep rich navy but it came up as a standard darkish blue on the white fabric and dark green on yellow fabric. I half expected a green green of sorts but the blue was very, very disappointing.

Different fabrics 'take' the dye to different extents. Cashmere cotton etc will dye well. But I'm not so sure about viscose. I know that I dyed a cotton jacket black and the thread turned out to be polyester. And the thread stayed pale. It looks ok but it does seem that most thread is polyester so they won't dye well.