Is there a dye pen I could use to "color" over the embroidery?

Name: Shari

Country or region: USA

Message: Hi, I own a beautifully embroidered pillow that I would like to change a color on. Part of the embroidery is a rusty orange which completely clashes with the red in my room. Is there a dye pen I could use to "color" over the rusty orange, making it more in the red family? What do you recommend? Thank you for your help!

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Neopaque is an opaque fabric paint, so white and light colors can cover a dark or colored background.

Yes, you can do this, by carefully drawing on the embroidery using fabric markers, which contain pigments rather than true dyes. You can color on top of a clear orange to make it a true red. A rusty orange will produce more of a brownish red, but it should be a closer match than what you have now. The only real worry is whether it will be easy to confine the color to the thread you're trying to darken, or whether it will be difficult to keep from splotching color onto the background, as well.

You'll want to start by testing your fabric marker. You should get some scrap fabric, and maybe make a few stitches of embroidery in it, to use for testing. Unfortunately, you probably have no idea what the fiber of the embroidery thread is made from, so you won't be able to be sure that it will take it as well as your test thread does. Synthetic fibers may take the color from a fabric marker more lightly than a natural-fiber yarn would do. At least you can check to make sure that it's not too difficult to keep your marker on the line of stitching, though.

You will probably want a fine-tip marker. There's a wide variety of fabric markers available. I do not recommend any marker that doesn't specifically say it's for use on fabrics. In my experience, standard Sharpie pens, for example, wash out much more quickly than fabric markers do. (I believe that Sharpie has introduced a new line of fabric markers, called "Stained By Sharpie"; these are probably good, but I have not tried them or seen any reviews of them yet.) Check the label carefully, to make sure whether you need to heat-set the color afterwards, by pressing it with a hot iron; some fabric paints and markers require heat-setting to become permanent.

You will probably be able to find good fabric markers in your local crafts store. If you don't, take a look at the wide range of fabric markers sold by Dharma Trading Company.

Alternatively, you might try painting on the rusty orange with a fabric paint, using a fine natural-fiber brush. Like fabric markers, fabric paints are much more suitable for this use than other paints, which would leave the embroidery stiff and hard. One fabric paint, Neopaque, which is made by Jacquard Products, is opaque and therefore can be used for more marked color changes; most fabric paints, and all of the fabric markers I know, are transparent, and allow some of the original color to show through. Whether you choose fabric paints or fabric markers, be sure to practice first to find how easy it is for you to control the marks that you make.

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Posted: Monday - August 01, 2011 at 07:53 AM

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Is there a dye pen I could use to "color" over the embroidery?

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