Country: Canada

Message: Hi there,

I know you don't recommend dyeing polyester, however I have a 100% polyester gauzy fabric in white which is a bed canopy for my daughter's room. I would like to dye it a lime green colour like in this picture (at the left) from Hearthsong, and was wondering if the weight of the fabric (being so light) would make it ok to dye with regular fabric dye (like Tulip brand)?

You can dye polyester, but you cannot do it with a dye intended for cotton or wool.  Dyes intended for natural fibers will not stick to polyester, but you can buy special dyes for polyester. I recommend that you weigh your canopy (dry) so that you know how much dye to buy, and mail-order some disperse dye. Disperse dye is the only type of dye that will work to dye polyester.

One brand of disperse dye is Jacquard Products' iDye Poly. Don't confuse this with plain iDye, which is a direct dye for cotton and other natural fibers only. Look specifically for iDye Poly. It should be applied by boiling the fabric with the dye in a very large cooking pot, but some of the instructions from Jacquard seem to imply that it will work in the washing machine on the highest temperature, though I'm sure the color would be much lighter, if ti works at all that way.

Another option would be to use a very thin fabric paint, such as Jacquard's Dye-Na-Flow or Dharma Trading Company's Dharma Pigment Dyes. These two fabric paints can be used on polyester, as well as on natural fibers, and they can be diluted and applied in a large plastic bucket in room temperature water, then hung out to dry. (Hang it outside, or arrange plastic under the fabric as it hangs, in case some paint drips off.) This would save your cooking pots from exposure to dye. Dharma Pigment Dye is a fabric paint that can be diluted with quite a lot of water, making it the more economical choice for large pieces. It would be particularly exciting to mix their fluorescent yellow and their fluorescent green for your canopy, because the color will seem to glow in sunshine or under a black light. See the Dharma site's fabric paints page.

Since you're in Canada, you'll probably find it more convenient to buy your dyes or fabric paints from a Canadian source. G and S Dye is a good dye retailer in Toronto, and they do mail-order. They now carry iDye Poly, and they also sell a pigment dye system. Call or email them to ask  whether their pigment system would be suitable for your thin sheer polyester and how they would recommend you use it. (For contact info, see my list, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".)

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