Is it possible to dye a black top that has silver embroidery on it, without ruining the writing?

Name: Sarah

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Country or region: France

Message: Is it possible to dye a black top that has silver embroidery on it, without ruining the writing? If so, what is the best dye to use?

If the silver embroidery is made of some sort of metal, or mylar, its color will be unchanged after you dye it, assuming that the garment is completely washable. The color of any natural fiber will be affected by the dye, but not the shiny part. If the embroidery thread is a blend of metallic silver and white natural fiber, then the white will assume whatever color you dye it, though the metallic silver itself will remain unchanged.

If the silver embroidery is a non-metallic gray, rather than shiny metallic, then whether the dye will color it or not will depend on what fiber the embroidery is made with, and on what fiber the fabric of the top is made of.

If your top is 100% cotton, or viscose rayon or another plant-based fiber, or silk, you can dye it with fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes, using soda ash as the dye fixative. If a light gray embroidery is made with either nylon or polyester, its color will be unchanged by the fiber reactive dye. This is in contrast to using an all-purpose dye, such as Rit Dye or Dylon Multi-Purpose dye, either of which will color both cotton and nylon at the same time. Do not use all-purpose dye unless your aim is to color different fibers the same color, at the same time.

However, if the embroidery is made with rayon floss, and the fabric of the garment is made of cotton, then the same dyes will color both the fabric and the embroidery, regardless of what sort of dye you are using, since both cotton and rayon are made from cellulose.

So, the answer to your question, like every other question about dyeing, requires that you figure out the fiber content of the item you want to dye. In your case, you need to figure out the fiber content of both the shirt and the embroidery floss used on it.

Note also that you cannot dye your black top to any other color than black. Dyes are transparent, and do not cover any colors over which they are applied; instead, the colors mix together. Since black is the darkest of all colors, no other color will show when applied on top of it. The only reason ever to dye a black top is in order to redarken it after it has faded to a lighter shade.

There are two sources I know of for buying Procion MX dyes in France: Teinture Textile, and Couture Passion. You can also mail-order from dye suppliers in other countries that are listed on my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". Other sources of fiber reactive dyes include some lines of Dylon dye other than their Multi Purpose line of dyes, such as Dylon Hand Dye or Dylon Machine Dye; you can be sure that a certain Dylon dye is a fiber reactive type of dye if the product ingredients listing includes sodium carbonate or trisodium phosphate, which are high-pH chemicals needed to set fiber reactive dyes, or if the label specifies that the dye cannot be used to color nylon or wool.

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Posted: Wednesday - March 23, 2011 at 08:35 AM

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Is it possible to dye a black top that has silver embroidery on it, without ruining the writing?

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