Message: I read the question about dyeing a suede couch that the fabric came off of. But can you dye a Microsuede (polyester) couch on which NONE of the fabric separates from the cushions or frame of the couch? 

I thought about using a steam cleaner, would that heat the dye enough to activate it? Then if I clean the machine out, and rinse with a clean wate cycle from the steam cleaner, would that do the job? Am I completely out of my mind?

If so, are there companies that do home visits to dye furniture?
I made the mistake of letting my husband pick out a white couch, and then we had kids!!!!YIKES

No, you absolutely cannot dye a microsuede couch, if the fabric won't come off of it.

Microsuede is made of polyester, which can be dyed only by BOILING it in a special kind of dye (disperse dye) for an hour or so. A little bit of boiling is not enough. Steaming it in place on the couch is simply not going to do it. No professionals will dye a polyester couch without removing the fabric, either; in fact, few professionals are willing to dye even washable polyester garments.

These are your alternatives: 1, use a fabric paint (instead of dye) that works on polyester, or 2, make slipcovers for the couch, or 3, get the couch reupholstered in your choice of fabric. The best results will come from reupholstering. Fabric paint will be a lot of trouble to apply, it will not last as long, and it will not save you money, compared to reupholstering or making slipcovers. It takes a LOT of fabric paint to cover a couch, and it's not cheap, but you can't use cheaper paint that's not intended for fabric, because it will not give good results on fabric. Plus, fabric paint will wear right off of the fabric, since it only coats the surface, and does not penetrate inside the fiber. If money is an issue, I recommend that you get a book on how to reupholster your own couch.

Check out the following two links for instructions for fabric painting furniture, and the third one for a cautionary tale of what happens if you make the huge mistake of trying to dye a couch....

• Can furniture be dyed successfully?

• Scarlet Zebra's Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture

• "I just dyed our white canvas couch yesterday DARK BLUE with RIT, then early this am when we went to move it inside both of our sets of hands were blue."

A different approach would be to make iron-on transfer patterns using disperse dye paints or crayons. This works only on polyester and other synthetics, and it will work only for those portions of the couch that you can apply an iron to, with a little pressure. You could make designs shaped like leaves or paw prints, or children's drawings. See, for example, "How to Dye a Polyester Microfleece Blanket" or "Dyeing the Fabric on an Ultrasuede Couch".

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