Can you please tell me if your dyes will dye bugaboo pram fabrics?

Name: Hilary

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: UK

Message: Hiya, can you please tell me if your dyes will dye bugaboo pram fabrics? Thank you.

To decide what sort of dyes to use for any project, you have to first find out three things: 1, what the fiber content of the material is; 2, whether or not it is washable; and 3, whether it is water-resistant or stain-resistant.

It looks as though the canvas in Bugaboo brand products is made from 100% polyester, at least in some cases. Polyester cannot be dyed with any dye that works on natural fibers. You can use only a special kind of dye designed for synthetic fibers, which is called disperse dye. In the UK, you can order disperse dyes from George Weil or Kemtex Educational supply. (See my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".) The transfer type of disperse dyes can be applied pretty easily by making a design on paper and then ironing it on, but solid-color dyeing requires boiling the fabric in a large pot of dye plus water plus a foul-smelling dye carrier/intensifier chemical. The only color intensifier chemical I've seen for sale on sites in the UK is in the little packets inside one brand of disperse dye, iDye Poly, which George Weil does sell. Without the color intensifier chemical, disperse dye produces only relatively pale colors on polyester.

None of that information is at all useful if your pram's material is water-resistant or stain-resistant. Try sprinkling some water on the fabric. If it beads up, instead of soaking in right away, then it is water-resistant and will also resist dye. Stain resistance is usually advertised in the promotional material about a product. You cannot dye anything that is water-resistant or stain-resistant.

It's also not possible to immersion-dye any fabric that is not washable. What does the care information for your pram say? Does it say you can remove the fabric in order to wash it? If you can't remove the fabric, you won't be able to boil it with the dye.

The iron-on transfer might work, though, even for some non-washable items, if they are not water-resistant. It's no good for getting a solid color. It's only good for drawing designs which you then transfer to the polyester (or other synthetic fiber) by ironing. For an example of this method, see my page, "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers". You can use disperse transfer dye powder from Kemtex Educational Supplies to make paints to use to make iron-on transfers on paper.

Like any dye, disperse dye will be visible only if the original fabric color is light enough. White fabric can be changed to any color you like. Dark colors can't be changed at all. The only way to decorate a dark-colored material is by painting on it with an opaque fabric paint, such as Jacquard Products' Neopaque. Unfortunately, opaque fabric paints will wear off from polyester canvas rather quickly, so they are not something I can recommend for anything as subject to wear as a pram.

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Posted: Friday - February 17, 2012 at 08:35 AM

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Can you please tell me if your dyes will dye bugaboo pram fabrics?

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