What is the best dye to use for a polyester dress, and do you think I need to strip the colour first?

Name: Jen

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: Canada

Message: I am trying to dye a dress that I had to wear at a wedding. It is 100% polyester. It is currently a peach colour. There are 2 layers of the liner underneath and the top layer is a sheer fabric. All 3 layers are polyester. What is the best dye to use and do you think I need to strip the colour first? It is relatively light. I would like to dye it as dark a purple as possible.

Is this dress washable? Don't even consider dyeing it unless you've been able to wash it without damaging it. Lined garments that are marked dry-clean-only often lose their shape altogether when washed, when the lining (whose fiber content is rarely acknowledged on the label) shrinks either more or less than the outer layers of the garment.

Assuming that you have been able to wash the dress without problems, you will need to use only a certain type of dye, called disperse dye. No other dye will work on polyester; all-purpose dye will just wash out. (See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".) There are several brands available. There is a low-energy type sold by Jacquard Products called iDye Poly (not to be confused with plain "iDye" without the "poly"!), which is fairly easy to acquire by mail-ordering it from a dye supplier or art supplier; in Canada, contact G&S Dye, which is located in Toronto. Additional types of disperse dye, and their auxiliary chemicals, can be ordered from PRO Chemical & Dye or from Aljo Mfg, both located in the US; Aljo, in particular, carries a wide variety of types of disperse dye, some of which are better for nylon and acetate, other truly better for polyester. iDye Poly is available in eight colors (including one violet), Prosperse Disperse Dye from ProChem in thirteen colors (including iris and lilac), and Aljo's Polyester Dyes in twenty-two different colors (including lavender, brilliant violet, and violet), plus twenty-four shades of disperse dyes optimized for acetate and nylon.

To dye polyester requires that you boil it with the disperse dye, in a very large cooking pot, large enough for the fabric to move freely, along with a horrifically smelly carrier chemical, required for full color intensity on polyester. (ProChem's new dye carrier formula might be less smelly than the one used by Jacquard Products, but I haven't tried it yet for myself; if it is as good as described, then it is very much to be preferred.) You should buy a pot that is at least five gallons in size, depending on the size of the dress. Moreover, you should not plan to reuse any dyeing pot for food, since the dyes are not safety-tested for this purpose. It's best if the dyeing pot is made of stainless steel, but an enamel canning pot is more economical, and will work fine if you are careful to always repair any chips in the enamel on the inside of the pot, using enamel paint which is not food-safe but which, fortunately, is dye-safe.

To dye a pale orange dress to a true clear purple, it will be necessary to strip the color first. If the peach color is very pale, however, and if the purple you choose is very dark and deep, then stripping the color may not be necessary. The peach underneath will give the purple a slightly browner tone, if you leave it. To try to strip the existing color, use your big dyeing pot with either Rit Color Remover, which is sodium dithionite, or Jacquard Color Remover, which is thiourea dioxide, gently cooking your dress in the very large pot of water with the color remover added, closely following the manufacturer's instructions. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) Although Rit Color Remover can be used in the washing machine, it will often work much better when simmered in a cooking pot, and you're going to have to get the cooking pot, anyway, if you wish to dye this dress. You may need to use two or three packets of the Color Remover for the best effect, depending on the manufacturer's instructions. Never use chlorine bleach, the household bleach whose main ingredient is hypochlorite, on synthetic fibers, because it can cause permanent damage; polyester tends to acquire an ugly yellow stain, which cannot be removed. Rit Color Remover and Jacquard Color Remover are both much safer and gentler to the fiber in your dress, though the sulfur fumes they produce can be quite irritating to the lungs, especially to anyone who has asthma. Take care to have excellent ventilation, and buy a respirator that has acid gas cartridges so that you can wear it when necessary.

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Posted: Wednesday - September 28, 2011 at 07:44 AM

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What is the best dye to use for a polyester dress, and do you think I need to strip the colour first?

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