Name: Jacquie

Message: I have dyed a pair of linen trousers (dark brown), using Dylon. Although the linen has dyed successfully the stitching has not taken the colour and they don't look any good! Any suggestions as to what I can use?

This is a common problem. See, in my FAQ, the question, "Why did the thread stay white when I dyed clothing?".

The problem is that your 100% linen trousers were sewn together with 100% polyester thread, which is almost undyeable.  See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". This is true of just about all commercially-sewn garments, unless they are marked PFD (for "Prepared For Dyeing"), RTD (for "Ready To Dye" or specifically "sewn with cotton thread". You will not find such garments at any ordinary store, but you can find them at wholesalers that supply garments to custom printing or garment-dyeing shops, and you can also buy them from a limited number of blank clothing suppliers, such as Dharma Trading Company.

In my experience, fabric markers don't do a good enough job on polyester thread to be worth trying. It's a lot of trouble to apply, but the polyester thread takes the fabric marker very lightly, so it still contrasts markedly with the natural fiber fabric.

Dyeing all of the thread at once by immersing the whole garment in polyester dye and boiling for an hour is far too much trouble: for one thing, it'll take an expensive large non-aluminum cooking pot which should never be reused for food. For another, the hour's worth of boiling is apt to damage the trousers.

I think that it would be too much trouble to iron-transfer disperse dye to all of the stitching, but this is an option to consider. Disperse dye will color polyester brilliantly, but will eventually wash out of natural fibers such as cotton or linen. To do this, buy disperse dye Fabric Transfer Crayons or disperse dye transfer paint, and apply it to several sheets of paper. Cut the paper into thin strips and iron it on to all of the polyester stitching, one bit at a time. This is easier than using fabric paint, because you don't have to wait a day for the paint to dry on one section, before you move on to the next, and the results will probably be better.

Disperse dye fabric transfer crayons are readily found in crafts stores and sewing stores. Disperse dye transfer paints can be purchased from several mail-order sources, including Omega Dyes in the UK, Zijdelings in the Netherlands, The Thread Studio in Australia, and G&S Dye in Canada. In the US, purchase disperse dye powder from PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts and use it to make your own transfer paint. See my page listing Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World for contact information for these and other suppliers.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)