Is there a way to somewhat return the color to the original?

Name: Trenton

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: Philippine Islands

Message: Thank you for your time. I have read your site. I have a sofa cover that had water marks. The cover was soaked in laundry detergent solution...the dark dye ran, darkening all the material. There is no label saying what type the material, but I think it is a polyester. Is there a way to somewhat return the color to the original? Thanks

The first thing to do is to remove all of the loose dye, by soaking and washing in the hottest water the fabric can tolerate. With luck you will be able to remove not only the loose dye but also the water marks.

Hot water will very often remove dye that has transferred from one part of a fabric piece to another. The hotter the water you use for this, the better. We usually recommend 140°F water, which is 60°C. However, this temperature will probably shrink cotton and other plant-based fibers.

If, after soaking and washing your sofa cover in hot water, you still want to remove more of the dye, there is a chemical that you can use. Do not use chlorine bleach, which contains hypochlorite. Hypochlorite will destroy many synthetic fabrics; it won't destroy polyester, but it will stain it an ugly yellow which cannot be removed in any way. Safer dye-discharging chemicals include sodium dithionite, also known as sodium hydrosulfite, which is found in such products as Rit Color Remover, Dylon Run Away for Whites, and Carbona Color Run Remover. Another chemical, thiourea dioxide, works similarly and is sold under different brand names such as Thiox, Spectralite, Jacquard Color Remover, and Dharma Dyehouse Color Remover. All of these dye removers require hot water to work. See the "Reductive Discharges" section of my page, "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".

At this point you may wish to redye your sofa cover. It's pretty much impossible to dye anything without knowing its fiber content, because it is extremely important to match the type of dye to the fiber you wish to dye. If your sofa cover is made of a synthetic fiber such as polyester, acrylic, or acetate, then ordinary dyes will not work; these fibers must be boiled in a special sort of dye called disperse dye, or you can create disperse dye transfers on paper and apply them to the fabric with a hot iron. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes". Finding disperse dyes locally may be a significant challenge, though there are mail-order sources that I can recommend in Australia, Europe, and the US. There are certainly industrial sources not too far from you, but finding a firm that will sell the small quantities suitable for individuals, instead of huge barrels of dye, can be a problem.

To be sure of the fiber content of your sofa cover, before you buy your dye, you can look for a place along the back of a hem or seam where you can cut off a small piece of the fabric, in order to test it. As I wrote in a previous blog entry, different fibers produce different odors and different ashes when burned, so you can carefully try burning your tiny snippet of fabric in a safe place. Rayon is a form of cellulose, so it smells like burning paper. Wool smells like burning hair. Nylon melts instead of burning well, and it smells like celery or burning plastic. Polyester smells sweet and forms a hard black bead. Take a look at Griffin Dyeworks' Burn Test page and Ditzy Prints' Fiber Burn Chart for instructions and for help in interpreting your results. Interpretation can be complicated if your fabric is actually a blend of two or more fibers.

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Posted: Tuesday - March 29, 2011 at 07:44 AM

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Is there a way to somewhat return the color to the original?

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