Name: Terri
Message: Paula, I have a sofa and loveseat slipcovers that I want to dye. They are 100% cotton twill cranberry red. I want to dye them eggplant purple or sage green. Are they too big and bulkey to do in the washer and what type of dye should I use? PLEASE HELP!!

Are they too big? I don't know without looking at them. If you put one or more pieces in your washing machine, can they move freely? If not, it might be possible to dye them in a large plastic garbage can, with constant stirring, but that could be quite physically demanding! Constant agitation is required to obtain a single solid color. Without the stirring, you can get a more interesting multi-colored effect, called Low Water Immersion Dyeing. This is a much easier dyeing technique, but would result in some areas of the slipcovers staying red, and others turning purple, if you use blue dye.

If they are washable and made of cotton, they can be dyed, but you must be careful to avoid any conditions (hot water, machine drying) that might shrink them. Even a little shrinkage might make them impossible to put back on the furniture.

You should always wash anything you are going to dye, before dyeing it. Any spots will remain visible after dyeing, unless they are very minor or the dye job is very dark. Polyester stitching will remain the original color after you dye the cotton, and it is highly impractical to attempt to dye it.

About the color change: you cannot dye something that is cranberry red in order to make it sage green! Dye is transparent, so any dye you apply will merely add to what is there already. Sage green is a rather pale color, while cranberry red is intense, and red and green are opposite colors on the color wheel. There is no color that you can add to cranberry red that could ever make it green. You might be able to add blue to cranberry red in order to get some shades of purple, however. Perhaps you should buy a box of watercolor paint and do some experimenting with color mixing on paper.

It is essential, if you do dye these slipcovers, to use a cool water dye, with water that is below 100 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. All-purpose dye does not work unless you use very hot water, ideally 190 degrees Fahrenheit or above, a temperature which will shrink your slipcovers so that there is no hope of ever getting them onto your furniture again. You must use a fiber reactive dye such as Procion MX or Cibacron F dye. To find companies from which you can order these types of dyes, see my "Sources for Dyeing Supplies" page, which lists different dye supply companies, located around the world. Note that even "cool water" dyes need warm water, certainly over 70 degrees Fahrenheit, preferably 80 to 95 degrees F.

Alternatively, you could apply fabric paint, which does not require repeated rinsing, as dyes do. See "Can furniture be dyed successfully?" and Scarlet Zebra's instructions for painting upholstered furniture.