Message: Dear Paula
I have an emerald green dress - it is 97% silk an 3% elastane..It says 'dry clean only' on the tag.
Before I had put on the dress, I had put on my roll-on deoderant - and, ofcourse, when I pulled the dress over my head and arms, there were deoderant patches on it!  I freaked out and tried to wash it off with cold water...and tried to dry it off with the hair dryer... most patches were perfectly ok when dried except one part of the dress, well, the colour has run out so you can now see it faded in that part. I really love the dress and want to re-dye it so that the colour is refreshed and perfect all through out.. I was reading through your website information but am not 100% as to the best dying option for the fabric blend.  I'm in Denmark so I'd probably have to order the correct dye online.  Could you please let me know if it is possible to redye the dress so I can fix it, perhaps soaking it in cold water (I have a front loader washing machine but dont think I can use it for this dress because the tag says dry clean only). I really want to fix my dress and would be so thankful to you if you could help. Many thanks


I have to start by saying that you can't dye anything that isn't washable. If it's marked "dry clean only", you probably won't be able to dye it. Sometimes it turns out that you can wash something that has that label. If it survives the washing, then you can try dyeing it. You must always wash garments very thoroughly before dyeing them, because stains on the fabric can interfere with dyeing. You must also wash thoroughly after dyeing, in order to remove excess unattached dye.

If your roll-on deodorant contained any metal compounds, such as aluminum, they are likely to interfere with dyeing. Aluminum is used as a mordant for natural dyes, and metal ions tend to change the colors of dyes, even synthetic dyes. If you can wash out all of the deodorant, then this should probably be okay, but, if any trace remains, it can affect the color of the dye you apply.

There is also the problem that, since dyes are all transparent, lighter regions will always remain lighter than darker regions. If the regions that are lighter are that way only because of the water, then perhaps you could wash out much of the remaining original dye, leaving you with a more even color to overdye.

The only kind of dye I recommend for use on a silk/elastane blend is a cool water fiber reactive dye. Elastane is often very sensitive to heat. Most kinds of dye require hot water, which might damage the elastane, resulting in weakening of the fibers and loss of shape of the garment. If your dress had a care label that allowed for hand-washing, you could check the maximum temperature recommended for the elastane in it, but since it's marked dry clean only, you can't tell. It would be best to assume 105°F as the limit, which is 41°C. 

In Denmark, one good source for dyes is Granat Farvekompagniet. They sell Remazol dyes, which are fiber reactive dyes whose ideal reaction temperature is 40°C to 60°C. They also sell Indanthren dyes, which are vat dyes that can be used in cool water, but vat dyes are rather complicated for beginners to use. Another source of dyes in Denmark that has been recommended to me is Spektrum; I can't tell from their site which dyes they sell, but you can order from them by telephone.

Remazol dyes, like Procion MX dyes, require soda ash or another high-pH chemical in order to work at relatively cool temperatures. They can also be used as acid dyes without soda ash, but in that case heat is required. Silk can be damaged by long exposures to soda ash, but eight hours' exposure is not a problem.

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