Name: Ryan

Message: Hello, I am trying to dye a light beige suede vest green for a Halloween costume that I'm working on and I was wondering if the cold water dyes would work with this, or do I need a special dye for this material? I was thinking about using Batikit Cold Water Fabric Dye because they have a color that I think is perfect, is this a good choice? Also what kind of fixative will i need to add to make this work :)
Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Can you wash the vest? If not, don't dye it. You'll have to wash out the excess unattached dye, which takes a fair amount of washing.

If you can wash the vest, I think that using Procion MX type dyes, such as those in the Batikit Cold Water Fabric Dye, ought to work fine. They will react well with the protein in the vest. The washing and the high pH of the fixing solution (soda ash) will probably stiffen the suede, but that's not as big of a problem for a costume. I think that the soda ash fixer is probably premixed with the dye, in the Batikit brand; check the store display carefully to see if the fixer is sold separately. You might want to do a final rinse with one quart of white vinegar mixed with four quarts of water, as ProChem recommends in their recipe for dyeing chrome-tanned leather with Procion MX dye, in order to neutralize the high pH of the soda ash on the suede. I think it is best to use a cold water dye, because heating the suede is very likely to ruin it.

If you can't wash the vest, I recommend that you use a thin fabric paint, such as Dye-na-Flow. You can dilute this paint with up to one-third as much water.

If the vest is not real suede, but instead a synthetic microsuede cloth, then it is probably made of polyester, which will not take the Batikit dye. In that case, the simplest solution would be to use the fabric paint. Jacquard says that their fabric paints will work on polyester, in addition to natural fibers.

Keep in mind that the current light beige color of the vest will affect the final color. You will not get the same shade of green as you would get with the same dye on white material.

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