Name: Jolie
Message: I wanted to know if it is possible to dye a pair of wool/lycra pants black, even though they say that they're dye clean only??

You can't dye anything unless you can wash it. Dyeing invariably involves a great deal of washing.

If you don't want to keep these pants unless you can dye them, then you should first try washing them, to see whether they survive. Only if they're still looking good after being washed should you even consider dyeing them. If they're worth anything to you in their present color, you should skip both washing and dyeing and keep them the way they are now.

Wool is best dyed with acid dyes (click on the picture of the dye jars, to the right, to find a good source for black acid dye), which require some heat during the dyeing process, but lycra is highly heat sensitive, easily damaged by heat, so it will be necessary to compromise, using temperatures much lower than are optimal for dyeing wool. This may result in significantly reduced washfastness of the dye. You cannot dye the lycra itself, but if the pants are mostly wool, you can dye them with acid dyes. The easiest way to dye anything a solid color is in the washing machine; see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".


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