Name: Karen
Message: HI!! I got a bridesmaid dress (I have pics if you want to see) and it is a burgundy color. It says hand wash on the tag and says "Lace, Satin & lining- 100% polyester".  Can I dye this black? It was pretty expensive and I dont want to ruin it but I will never wear the burgundy. Thank you so much for your time.

Unfortunately, dyeing polyester is a lot more trouble than dyeing cotton. The biggest difference is that cotton can be dyed at room temperature, if you use a cool water fiber reactive dye (not all-purpose dye!), but polyester must be dyed at or above boiling temperature (using only a specialized polyester dye, of course). 

It's quite likely that you will decide that this is not worth the expense of the required equipment: a very large, non-aluminum cooking pot that will never again be used for food. The pot has to be large enough for the dress to move around in freely, or else the final color will be uneven. You can use an enamel canning pot, but only if it doesn't have any chips in the enamel on the inside. Stainless steel pots are the best, but I can't find a 5 gallon stainless steel pot for under $40. (An excellent source of dyeing pots would be a home brewing supplier, such as our friends at DeFalco's, because the requirements for brewing and for dyeing are very similar. Unfortunately, you can't use the same pot for both dyeing and brewing, since only food-safe ingredients must be allowed into the brew kettle.)

Once you have a dyeing pot, you just need to buy both the special polyester dye known as 'disperse dye', and a noxious carrier chemical to make up for the fact that boiling temperature is really too cool for dyeing polyester well. If you skip the carrier chemical, you will be unable to get intense colors or dark shades. The process of dyeing polyester will certainly be more pleasant if you do skip the carrier chemical, but then black will not be an option. You can mail-order disperse dye from PRO Chemical & Dye or from Aljo Dyes in the US, or from Batik Oetoro in Australia, and from several British suppliers. For contact information, see my listing of different companies that sell supplies for dyeing. 

The final consideration is whether your garment will actually survive being boiled for an hour. Many garments are marked dry clean only, but even washable garments are often labeled for washing in cool water only. Boiling is far harsher than washing even in hot water, since hot water is typically no higher than 140 degrees F. (60 C.).


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