Name: Jami

Country: USA
Message: I am buying a yellow lycra hoodie for my horse -- but it needs to be RED for my halloween costume.  I think I can dye it with Rit dye -- can you give me exactly what I will need to dye it properly? 

Lycra® blend garments generally contain mostly cotton or mostly nylon, and only a relatively small fraction of Lycra spandex. Choose your dye based on the other fibers in the blend. See my page, "How to Dye Spandex", for more details. If your hoodie is cotton/lycra, use a cool water fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX dye; if your hoodie is nylon/lycra, dye it with an acid dye and some vinegar. If your hoodie is made of a polyester/Lycra blend, you will not be able to dye it, though you can use some fabric paints.


Rit dye is a type of all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye is not a very good dye, but it will work on both nylon and cotton, and for something you will wear only once, it doesn't matter much that it's a poor dye that washes out quickly. Unfortunately, it will not work on polyester.

You can use many fabric paints even on synthetic fibers that are not dyeable. The result will probably be somewhat splotchy, not perfectly smooth and even, but for most costumes will be good enough. Fabric paint sticks to fabric better than other types of paints, and feels much softer and less scratchy. Go to a crafts store to buy fabric paint, or mail-order it from Blick Art Materials or Dharma Trading Company. A good brand to try is Dye-na-Flow, because it is very thin and spreads like a dye, and the manufacturer specifically notes that it can be used on polyester or nylon, as well as on cotton and other fibers.

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