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Retayne
G&K Craft Industries

Retayne helps fix all-purpose dyes such as Rit. It is not needed for use with fiber reactive dyes such as Procion

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Jacquard Flowable Extender
colorless fabric paint binder

Message: I recently reupholstered two chairs and found the black fabric (polyurethane/nylon) is not colorfast. Can I use Retayne or some other product to set the dye? These can't be washed after treatment.

I'm sorry. This sounds like an awful situation. You've done all the work of reupholstering, but the material was unsuitable for the purpose.  As you now realize, it is important to wash fabric thoroughly before using it to upholster furniture.

Retayne is not designed for application directly on furniture. (See "Retayne and Other Commercial Dye Fixatives".) The instructions say to soak the fabric in hot water, at 140°F, with one teaspoon of Retayne for twenty or thirty minutes; if your hot water is lower in temperature than this, it is recommended that you add boiling water to reach 140°F. I can't imagine any way to soak your upholstered furniture in hot water without ruining it, nor to wash the fabric, without first removing it from the furniture.

Retayne is like a basic dye (or cationic dye), though it is colorless. It must be diluted for use. You can't simply spray diluted Retayne onto the upholstery, because heat is required to encourage it to attach to the loose particles of dye.

It might be possible to treat your fabric by painting it thoroughly with a colorless transparent fabric paint in order to "glue" the loose particles of dye into place. Fabric paint will change the feel of most fabrics, making them a little less soft. (Paint which is not intended for use on fabric creates a markedly scratchy, rough feeling on cloth.)  Unfortunately, the amount required to cover your fabric can be expensive, depending on the amount of fabric that must be covered. For a chair with ten square feet of material to treat, you might need three 8-ounce jars of colorless fabric paint. You will probably have to order this by mail; look for Jacquard or Neopaque Flowable Extender or Versatex Clear Extender. Please read "Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture". Heat treating is required for colorless fabric paint extender, just as for the same brand of pigmented fabric paint, unless you add an acrylic catalyst such as Jacquard AirFix.

Otherwise, it will be necessary for you to start over again and reupholster the chairs with a fabric that has been prewashed and tested to make sure that it is not prone to crocking.

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