Is it possible to dye a silk velvet burnout dress with a completely sewn-in rayon liner?

Name: Christina

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Country or region: Pennsylvania, USA

Message: Is it possible to dye a silk velvet burnout dress with a completely sewn-in rayon liner? It is currently a cream color (and marked dry clean only). I was hoping to get it to a fairly rich brown.

You can't dye anything if you can't wash it. See my page, "Can I dye clothing that is labeled 'dry clean only'?". If you wash it, the rayon lining might shrink more than the silk/rayon velvet outer layer; if the lining shrinks, the shape of the dress will be ruined, unless you pull out the lining and sew in a new one (or wear the dress with a slip under it, after removing the lining).

If you wash the dress and it's still okay afterwards, then you certainly can dye it. At this point things get interesting. Silk devoré is typically made with a silk backing material and rayon plush. The thicker areas you see are made of rayon, while the thin burned-out areas are silk. Silk and rayon may take the same dye differently, so what is brown on the rayon might turn out to be a more reddish or greenish color on the silk. The color contrast is unpredictable, but usually the results are lovely.

I recommend, if your dress survives prewashing, that you choose a brown Procion MX fiber reactive dye. Procion MX dyes work very well on both rayon and silk. You can set the Procion dye with soda ash. You can try for a solid color by doing this in the washing machine (see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?"), or you can lay it flat (some people use a plastic tarp underneath, others a layer of old towels which will also get dyed) and use tie-dyeing dyes to squirt different colors or shades of dye onto different areas of the dress.

Another type of dye, acid dye, would color the silk backing while only staining the rayon plush slightly. I don't think you'll want to use acid dyes alone on silk/rayon burnout fabric. You could use acid dyes as a second step if you happen to dislike the color that Procion MX brown dye produces on your silk backing.

In a very different approach, you could choose to dye the rayon and silk in contrasting colors by buying a kit of Alter Ego brand dyes. The main drawback to this option is expense: each small jar of Alter Ego dye costs over $20. Also, the dyes must be applied in a non-aluminum cooking pot that is large enough for the dress to move in freely when stirred; do you already have a large dyeing pot? If not, this would represent a major investment, since the pot must be made of stainless steel or enamel, and should not be reused later for food.

Finally, I must mention all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye has led to more disappointments in dyeing than other types of dye, and yet one great advantage is that it's supposed to produce more-or-less the same color on rayon as it does on silk. It would not be a bad choice for your dress (assuming, as before, that you first succeed in washing the dress without ruining it). You should add both salt (for the rayon) and vinegar (for the silk) to your dyeing pot if you choose to use all-purpose dye. Again, as for acid dyes and Alter Ego dyes, you can't do this at the room temperature that works fine for Procion MX dyes. All-purpose dye can be used in very hot tap water, but produces better results if heated to a simmer with the garment in a large non-aluminum dyeing pot, three or four gallons in size. All-purpose dye tends to bleed badly in the wash, but that won't be a problem if you revert to only dry-cleaning the dress in the future.

No matter what dye you use, if you want the dress to end up in solid colors rather than splotches of lighter and darker brown, you will need to stir constantly during the dyeing process, whether you're using Procion MX dye in a bucket, or Alter Ego dyes, acid dyes, or all-purpose dyes in a cooking pot, or all-purpose dyes in a bucket with the hottest tap water you can achieve. If you do your dyeing in a washing machine, the agitator takes care of the stirring problem (though it may tear delicate fabrics), but you must reset the timer on the washer several times before the water drains, so that you get at least half an hour of dyeing time, or preferably a full hour. Carefully follow the instructions for the type of dye that you choose to use.

Unfortunately, all of this dyeing advice depends utterly on successfully washing the dress first, in spite of the dry-clean-only label. You can't dye anything without washing it first, and there is a very real chance that washing will destroy this dress.

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Posted: Saturday - June 16, 2012 at 08:42 AM

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Is it possible to dye a silk velvet burnout dress with a completely sewn-in rayon liner?

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