I have very pale yellow canvas slipcovers. How can I bleach them white?

Name: Cindi

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Dye Removal Chemicals

Country or region: USA

Message: I have very pale yellow canvas slipcovers. I want them white. When I try using bleach, they turn baby pink! How to do this? Thanks

This may not be possible.

Not all dyes can be destroyed with bleach. Even some dyes than can be damaged with bleach, as you saw, will bleach to an unexpected color, instead of turning colorless. Some dyes that don't respond to bleach will respond to other discharging chemicals, but many dyes will not respond to either one.

It's very likely that the best thing for you to do will be to sew some new slipcovers, using the old slipcovers as a guide. You can sew your own slipcovers, or you can hire an upholsterer to sew them for you.

You can try a dye discharge chemical of a different type, a sulfur-based discharge such as sodium dithionite (found in Rit Color Remover) or thiourea dioxide (found in Jacquard Color Remover), but there is no guarantee that it will work. Also, all discharge chemicals other than bleach require heat. Sometimes the hottest tap water you can get in your washing machine will be hot enough, but in other cases nearly-boiling hot water are required, which is impractical unless you already own a very large dyeing pot.

For more information on the different chemicals that can be used to remove dye, see my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

By the way, it is important to specify what fiber your canvas is made of. A 100% cotton or 100% hemp canvas can be bleached with chlorine bleach, but it's a mistake to use bleach on a synthetic-fiber canvas such as polyester canvas or acrylic canvas. The hypochlorite in chlorine bleach will damage synthetic fibers, so use it only on 100% natural plant-based fibers.

If your slipcovers are made of an easily-dyeable material, such as cotton, you might decide to choose a different color, instead. While it can be very difficult to turn any color of previously-dyed material white, it's a lot easier to turn it a darker color, assuming that it's made of an easily-dyed natural fiber. See "Choosing the right dye for your fiber".

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Posted: Friday - August 13, 2010 at 03:33 PM

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I have very pale yellow canvas slipcovers. How can I bleach them white?

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