Message: Hello, 
      I am a current student at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design; I am studying material art and design and have a question about dying polyester. I have a lot of dyeing experience using Cellulous and Protein fibers but I have a project that will require me to dye a polyester sweater. If it is possible to give me directions or to a resource that can give me directions that would be great. I tried the Disperse dying but the colours became to Neon for the look that I am going for. 
Cheers
P.s This website is amazing and I am so happy that I stumbled across it!!!

Hi Katherine,

The disperse dyes failed for you before because the colors were too neon-like. This is a problem of color mixing, not with the dye.

There is no other kind of dye you can use for polyester besides disperse dye. You can find different disperse dyes at different suppliers, but you will probably have to buy several colors and mix them, to get a more toned-down, natural-looking color.

A related question is in this recent hand dyeing Q&A blog entry, from March 27, 2009: "How to Tone Down Excessively Bright Dye Colors". To tone down an overly bright color, add the complementary color, or make a brown or gray mixture of dyes and add that to your brightly colored dye.

Two of the best sources in North America for small quantities of disperse dyes are PRO Chemical & Dye in Massachusetts, and Aljo Mfg. in New York.  You can find contact info for both on my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World". Aljo carries several more neutral colors than ProChem does, so be sure to check on their site under 'product information'.

For directions, see my page on "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". There are links listed there for directions on how to use these dyes on different materials. You will need to boil the garment with the dye and any recommended auxiliary chemicals.

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