Name: Maureen
Message: I have 10 ballet leotards that need to be dyed.  The fabric is a blend of poly 64% and lycra.  The leotards are now white, and I need to dye them yellow, orange and green. Do you have any suggestions? 

Sorry, but what you have is an undyeable fiber blend. Polyester can be dyed only with extensive boiling, while Lycra (a brand name for spandex) is heat-sensitive and will be destroyed at temperatures well below those required for dyeing polyester.

It is easy to dye cotton/spandex blends, and possible to dye nylon/spandex blends, but it is impossible to dye a polyester/spandex blend.

The only alternative (besides buying some dyeable leotards) is to use fabric paint, rather than dye, but the results will not be as soft or resistant to wear as with dye. See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". All of the Jacquard brand fabric paints, such as Dye-Na-Flow, Jacquard Textile Colors, Lumiere, and Neopaque, are said by their manufacturer to perform well even on polyester; the same is no doubt true of some other brands, as well, but in any case you would be wise to do a test, to see how well the paint works, before embarking on the project of coloring all ten leotards.


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