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Sunday, December 08, 2013

Name: Angela

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Country or region: Labrador, Canada

Message: Hi there, I have a cream colored, 100% polyester wedding dress that says 'Do not dry clean', spot clean only w. cold water and a mild soap...my daughter would like to wear it for her wedding but she wants the dress to be white. Is it at all possible for me to dye the dress from cream to white? I've searched everywhere but all of the questions seem to be dyeing to color and not to white. Please help, thank you so much!!

No, you cannot do anything to change the color of a garment that is not washable. Immersing the garment in water to change its color may cause the dress to fall apart, or cause the trim to come right off of the dress.

I suspect the trim may have been glued on, using a glue that is not suitable for clothing, as as otherwise there's little reason not to allow even dry-cleaning. There are fabric glues that easily survive gentle washing or dry-cleaning, but it seems that the maker of your dress could not be bothered to use appropriate materials.

The method used to remove color from polyester requires immersing it in very hot water with a chemical color remover (not bleach); this does not always work, depending on the source of the original color. The method used to brighten a slightly off-white fabric to true white requires immersing it in hot water with a fluorescent brightener, which is a sort of dye that absorbs ultraviolet light and converts it to visible blue light. Your dress cannot be immersed in water, so neither of these procedures will be possible.

I'm sorry I can't give you better news.

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Monday, December 02, 2013

Name: Jhonna

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Holly Brackmann's book
The Surface Designer's Handbook

includes directions for dyeing with disperse dyes

Jacquard iDye Poly allows even beginners to dye polyester at home on the stovetop

iDye Poly Fabric Dye

Country or region: Australia

Message: Hi, I would like to ask what dye do I use to dye polyester satin & what steps should I take? Thank you for your time. Hoping to hear from you.

This is a very important question to ask. The only dye to use for polyester satin, or any other weave of polyester, is a special type of dye called Disperse dye. Other kinds of dye will disappoint you badly by simply washing out. You cannot use any dye that works on cotton or wool, when dyeing polyester, because the fiber is chemically so very different.

There are a couple of good sources for disperse dye in Australia, though chances are you will need to mail-order your dyes from them, depending on where you live. Australian suppliers of disperse dye include Batik Oetoro in Gateshead, NSW, near Newcastle, and Kraftkolour near Melbourne, Victoria. Kraftkolour has more brands of disperse dye and also carries the dye carrier chemical needed to obtain bright or dark colors on polyester; without the dye carrier, your colors in solid-color dyeing will tend to be pale.

In addition to Kraftkolour, some other dye suppliers, possibly including a very good local crafts store if you have one nearby, carry Jacquard "iDye Poly", which is disperse dye, and which includes a packet of the dye carrier chemical, so it is suitable for your purposes. (Do not confuse "iDye Poly" with plain "iDye", which is intended for use on natural fibers such as cotton.) When deciding when to place your order, keep in mind that Kraftkolour closes from December 20 to January 23. (For contact information for these and other dye sellers, see my page, "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World".)

For solid-color dyeing, disperse dye must be applied with boiling water, and boiled for some time, so you cannot apply it in a plastic bucket, as you can with cotton dyes on cotton. Since many recipes for disperse dye call for additional chemicals that react poorly with aluminum, you will need to invest in a dyeing pot that is either made of stainless steel, or of enamel-coated steel. The pot should be large, typically five gallons in capacity; the goal is that there be enough room for the garment or yardage being dyed to move about freely, exposing all surfaces to the dyebath repeatedly. If the pot is too small, the resulting color will be splotchy, darker in some regions than in others.

I have to warn you that the dye carrier chemical has an unpleasant smell, and it is best to avoid breathing it. Even with excellent ventilation, I found it nearly unbearable to use indoors. I prefer to set up a single burner outside when using the carrier chemical to dye polyester with disperse dyes, so that the smell does not get into my house, and so that I don't have to worry about potential toxicity.

An alternative to solid-color dyeing is transfer dyeing, in which you use disperse dyes to make designs on paper, let them dry, then iron them onto the synthetic fabric. No dyeing pot is needed, and the variety of possibilities is enormous. The iron-on method does not require the dye carrier chemical to make brilliant colors, so odor and ventilation are not an issue. You can make these transfers using disperse dyes that you have mixed with water, or using special disperse dye crayons, or with pre-mixed Transprint disperse dye inks, available both from Kraftkolour and from The Thread Studio, in Perth, which sells them by mail.

For more information, see my pages, "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes", and "Iron-on Fabric Crayons for Synthetic Fibers", as well as the other questions in the "Dyeing Polyester" section of this All About Hand Dyeing Q&A blog.

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