Name: Donna
Message: Hi, please help! I am trying to make a Halloween costume, I found a bridesmaid type dress I found @ a thrift shop for $2.00. The only problem is it is a turquoise greenish color and I would like to make it a burgundy/wine color. I am not sure of the fabric (there is no tag in it, so I am thinking it is hand made). I have tried RID color remover , and also straight bleach, to get the color out. Any suggestions??

You've already tried color remover and bleach, to no avail? Then there is nothing else you can do to remove color, assuming that you used enough packets of the color remover at once, and followed the instructions carefully. (Surely you must mean Rit Color Remover, though, not RID; I believe that RID is a brand of poison for killing lice!)

The fact that you were unable to remove the dye does not give any clues about the fiber content of the fabric, as there are some cotton dyes which cannot be bleached. However, bridesmaid dresses are usually made of polyester or acetate, two fibers that are quite difficult to dye. There is no reason not to sew them from cotton satin or silk satin, but polyester or acetate is sometimes cheaper than a nice natural fiber. You would have to boil the dress with a special type of dye called disperse dye (see "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes"); unfortunately, whatever pot you used to do any dyeing should never be used for food again, since the dye is not safe for food preparation containers. This would be an expensive sacrifice of a good cooking pot! The same is true even of all-purpose dyes, such as Rit® brand dye; you must never use a pot for food after dyeing in it with Rit dye, or any other non-food dye.

You can safely use a large cooking pot to boil a coffee color into a polyester garment, since using real coffee will not ruin your pot. The only problem is whether or not you have a very large (several gallon) cooking pot, large enough to do this. The coffee color will not last through many washings, but that's okay for a single use. The garment will smell quite strongly of coffee afterwards, but there are worse smells. You would prepare a two gallon coffee dyebath by making enough very strong coffee for 32 eight-ounce cups or 43 six-ounce cups, and boil the garment for a good hour. Boiling might be hard on the garment, of course, but if you bought it very cheaply and need it only for a costume, the risk is probably worth taking. Note that any trim is probably made of nylon, which will take the coffee color much more darkly.

If the dress is actually made of nylon, it will be easy to dye, unlike a dress made of any other synthetic fiber. Nylon is dyed in the same way as wool or silk, and may be dyed by simmering it with food coloring plus an acid such as vinegar; you can safely use your good cooking pots for dyeing with food coloring. (Food coloring will not work on cellulose fibers such as cotton.) If the dress is made of a natural fiber such as cotton or rayon (viscose rayon is a regenerated cellulose that is dyed just like cotton), you can use good fiber reactive dyes, or inferior all-purpose dyes. For dyeing with either of these types of dyes, the washing machine is easiest; see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". Neither of these will work on most synthetics, however.

The one solution that works for almost any synthetic, and that does not require boiling, is to use a type of fabric paint called 'pigment dye'. Pigment dye is not a dye at all, but instead a paint, which is to say a pigment mixed with a sort of glue to make it stick to the dye. One commercial source of pigment 'dye' is Dharma Trading Company. They ship pretty quickly, so if you order the pigment 'dye' now, you'll have plenty of time to use it before Halloween. Pigment dye is not suitable for getting a perfectly even, smooth, solid color, but it can be used for nice effects. Other fabric paints can also be used on polyester, though they may not wear as well as when used on natural fibers, since the slick synthetics are more difficult for a paint to cling to. The only reason not to use ordinary artists' acrylics on fabric is that they will make it very stiff and hard. Acrylic paints may be mixed with a product called textile medium in order to make them more suitable for use as a fabric paint.



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