Name: Angela Le Peuch
Message: I have a few items of clothing that fit very well and are machine-washed. But the color the these items don't look very good with my complexion. I would like to have these items in black. I would be glad to pay someone to help me out. I have a zip-up sweater, two pant-suits, and a cap. The two pant-suits are size 4, and the sweater is small. If anyone is interested please drop me a line. Thanks.

It's hard to find someone willing to go to the trouble and risk of custom solid color dyeing, but - if the garments are 100% cotton - it's easy to do washing machine dyeing for yourself. See ProChem's instructions .

Since you want black, the darkest of all colors, be sure to double or triple the amount of dye called for, and buy the dye type indicated in the recipe.

If the garments are not 100% cotton (or other cellulose fibers such as rayon or lyocell [Tencel]), this is not such a great idea. You must match the type of dye to the type of fiber.

There can be no guarantee of success. I once dyed a yellow blouse teal by using blue MX fiber reactive dye. It turned out that not all of the pieces of the blouse took up the dye equally, so one front panel was darker than the other. PFD (prepared for dyeing) garments such as those sold by Dharma Trading Company are the best way to avoid this problem altogether. However, most commercial garments seem to come out fine, and it is worth some risk, sometimes.