A dress I really like is 97% Viscose and 3% Spandex, but it's a horrible coral color that wouldn't match my red hair, so I was wondering, if I used a black Rit dye, would it be ok?

No. Don't use all-purpose dye on anything that contains spandex, because all-purpose dye is a hot water dye and hot water is death to spandex. Either you will ruin your dress, or you will use inadequately hot water and end up with an ugly grey mess.

Instead, use a cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. Fiber reactive dye works much better than all-purpose dye on viscose rayon. All-purpose dye fades quickly and bleeds badly in the laundry, but fiber reactive dye is more intense in color and lasts through years of washing. Viscose rayon is dyed just like cotton, with the same dyes, but it is much more fragile when wet, so you must treat it very gently.

You can find all-purpose dye almost anywhere, even grocery stores and pharmacies, but for a better dye you will have to look a little harder. You can buy fiber reactive dye in a crafts store or sewing store. Look for Dylon Cold Dye, Tulip One Step Fashion Dye, or Jacquard Procion dye, or get a tie-dye kit made by Jacquard, Dylon, Tulip, or Rainbow Rock. If you are in Australia, you can use Tintex Cold Dye, but don't use Tintex Hot Dye, and in North America don't use Tintex at all, because all of the Tintex dye available in North America is a hot water dye, unsuitable for your fiber blend. The best way to buy fiber reactive dye is to mail-order some Procion MX dye from one of the many companies listed on the page Sources of Dyeing Supplies Around the World.

If you use a good dye, you can easily change the color of a coral dress to black, but the stitching will remain the original color. Would this look okay on your dress? Ready-made clothing is sewn together with polyester thread, which cannot be dyed with ordinary dye, nor at a temperature that will not destroy spandex.


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[This material was first posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on June 6, 2008.]