Dyeing Clothes

Will be attempting to re-dye this black 40s dress made of rayon, lace and crepe...I'm absolutely terrified! This garment really needs a bit of TLC, and I'm hoping I can cover up the redness of the fading at the bottom. I'm a bit worried I will botch the whole thing though because when I hand washed it in the sink the water turned a mucky red (which I'm assuming is the old dye...?!) I really am a newbie with this stuff! HELP.



I've bought a bottle of Rit liquid black dye but now I've been reading that the boiling technique is not good for rayon...I have no idea what to do!

DO NOT under any circumstances try to dye this rayon dress by boiling it!!!! It will shrivel up and ruin the fabric.

You must use the hand dye that is a lot cooler and less harmful to delicate fabrics. This might be a different dye with Rit, it is with Dylon here in the UK.

Miss Sis said:

DO NOT under any circumstances try to dye this rayon dress by boiling it!!!! It will shrivel up and ruin the fabric.

You must use the hand dye that is a lot cooler and less harmful to delicate fabrics. This might be a different dye with Rit, it is with Dylon here in the UK.

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Thank you so much for that tip! I'm so glad this thread exists or I probably would have just ruined the dress.

Check out Dharmatrading.com for dyes and instructions. They have some dyes specific to man-made fibers.

Hi all, I wonder if you help. I've recently bought a 30's cotton crochet dress which is one of my most expensive vintage buys to date. Sadly when it arrived the colour turned out to be different to the picture, it is a not particularity becoming peachy pink. The dress also has a bit of yellowing around the edges (collar and bottom edge) and I spotted a couple of other small areas on the dress, not very noticeable at this stage. I am thinking to dye it, not because of these minute issues, but because of the general unsuitability of the colour for me.

I am looking at using Dylon, in the Rosewood shade, which should cover nicely the current peach. This is the version for machine dyeing which I understand does the job at 40 degrees Celsius. My questions are: would the dress be safe in the washing machine at this temperature? I usually wash all my vintage by hand. Is there any chance the cotton might shrink at all? The dress fits perfectly as it is, but it won't if it gets any smaller. I have alternatively looked into using a Dylon cold water dye, which is discontinued but still to be found occasionally. However am not sure this can be used in the washing machine.
The second issue is: would the yellowed or discolored patches be covered up evenly or might I end up with lighter/darker patches far more visible than they are at the moment?

Help, anyone??

Hi Daisy, I haven't been on here for ages but I'd say for the dress you mention above, one, if it is cotton, give it a good soak first in Napisan/Oxyclean to get any marks out first (some of it is probably dirt/grime by the sounds of things) then

two - hand dye it. I would not dye it in the washing machine. You will have a lot more control over things doing it by hand as yes, the cotton could shrink. Dylon do the rosewood shade in a small sachet which is for hand dying.

I have dyed a cotton crochet dress that was white a mint green with a cold dye (old stock) and it was fine. Hope this helps. You may have already done it, you asked so long ago!