Name: Darlene

Message: I bought a "100% cotton" white dress online with the intention of dying it black, however, upon receipt, I discovered the lining of the dress is 65% polyester and only 35% cotton.  I know that polyester does not dye well at all.  I believe only the lining would be a problem, however, I would like your opinion.  Should I abandon my hopes of dying this dress?  Thanks.

I've had that problem. I ordered a 100% cotton skirt from Land's End years ago, and was shocked to find it was fully lined with a 100% synthetic acetate lining. At that time I had no idea that "100% cotton" did not refer to the entire garment. I was pretty disappointed in that case because the synthetic fiber lining made the skirt uncomfortable to wear in hot weather, the purpose for which I'd bought the skirt.

Will it bother you to have a black dress with a medium-light grey lining? That is what you'll get. If the lining does not show and this doesn't bother you, then go right ahead. If a grey lining will not look right, than I'd advise you to skip it.

Now do keep in mind that almost all 100% cotton clothing is dyed with polyester thread. Since the thread does not take dye, you will inevitably end up with contrasting-color stitching. Whether or not this is a problem depends on the style of the garment, the contrast between your starting and ending colors, and your personal taste.

Do not dye your cotton dress with a hot water dye such as all purpose dye. Popular brands of all-purpose dye include Rit® All Purpose Tint and Dye and Tintex® Easy Fabric Dye. These dyes are completely unsuitable for dyeing a lined cotton garment, because the hot water will cause the cotton to shrink more than the lining, which will destroy the shape of the dress as well as its fit. It is very important in cases like this to use only cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. There is an additional problem with all-purpose dye, which is that it does not last long before fading in the laundry, and its bleeding in the laundry tends to ruin other clothes if you do not sort carefully. In any case, you must use far more dye powder to dye anything black than you would for a lighter color.

While polyester can be dyed by boiling it at length with disperse dyes, I can't recommend it. The investment in purchasing a suitable dyepot (not to be used for food again) is significant, and the cotton in the dress would shrink horribly if the dress were to be boiled at all, but extensive boiling is required in order to dye polyester.

A lot of commercial garments can be redyed successfully, but there's never any guarantee that it will work. Sometimes one part of the garment will take the dye more intensely than another part, due to having been cut from a different bolt of fabric. This can be impossible to detect until it is too late. The very best results in dyeing your own clothes call for buying PFD (Prepared For Dyeing) or RTD (Ready To Dye) garments sold specifically for the purpose of garment dyeing.

One last but very important point. Is your dress labeled as being machine-washable? Lined garments that are marked "dry clean only" should never be dyed, but if it's washable, you can dye it  with a cool water dye.

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