How can I remove stains caused by loose dye from another garment?

Name: Emma

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Country or region: Australia

Message: Hello! I would REALLY appreciate your help, as I have received so much conflicting advice about how to fix a certain problem, and you sound like you know what you're talking about! I have a beautiful dark teal linen dress that I bought overseas which has been ruined; for some reason it was put into a leaking bathtub with a hand-dyed pair of pants of mine (???). The dye, of course, transferred onto my dress, and now there are yellow-ish and dark purple splotches all over my dress! The stains have been there for a couple of months now; like I said, I have received so much conflicting advice about how to fix it, that I've been so scared to touch it for fear of ruining it! Please help me salvage it! Could you possibly refer me a few suitable brands as well?? I would very much appreciate it!!

I am concerned about the yellowish splotches on your dress. Are these dye stains, or are they bleach stains? It seems unlikely that a dark teal color could be turned yellowish by transferred dye. Yellow dye on top of dark teal would produce greenish stains, at most. If your dress has been stained with any sort of bleach (including acne treatment lotions), please read my page, "How can I fix the bleach spots on my favorite clothing?". For the remainder of this answer, I'll assume that the problem really is due to transfer of loose dye, rather than to bleaching, since that problem has already been covered in the link above.

Have you already washed the dress at its usual washing temperature, using your usual laundry methods? That is always the first thing to try. If the unwanted dye is loose enough, it may be that easy to remove. As everyone always says, don't use heat to dry the garment until the stain is out. This is generally a good rule to follow. Don't machine-dry the dress until the stain is out; instead, just hang it to dry.

The best thing to try next, to remove dye that has bled from another garment, is to soak your garment in hot water, the hottest it can take. If very hot tap water (typically 55°C to 60°C, or 130°F to 140°F) is not sufficient, then add a bit of boiling water from your stovetop to make your hot-water soak a little hotter. The heat of the hot water will lower the attraction of the loose dye for your dress, encouraging it to lift off. Follow the hot water soak by washing in hot water, with a little detergent.

It is not very likely that soaking and then laundering in hot water will fail to work, if the problem is just loosely transferred excess dye. If hot water does fail, then the next step is to use either bleach or color remover. (See "What chemicals can be used to remove dye?".) The problem with both bleach and color remover is that the original color of the dress may be lightened or removed, along with that of the transferred dye. That's why you should always try the hot water method first (the hot water method is also less trouble, and cheaper, and usually very effective).

As long as your linen dress is 100% linen, without any spandex or other synthetic fiber content, nor any silk or other animal fiber, then you can consider using household bleach. This is the familiar product that is also known as chlorine bleach, the stuff whose active ingredient is hypochlorite. Don't confuse it with oxygen-based "color safe" bleaches. (Never use hypochlorite bleach on synthetic fibers such as polyester, nor on animal fibers such as wool or silk.) Be aware that hypochlorite bleach can damage any fiber, leaving holes in a garment, if it is too strong, if the water is too hot, if the garment is left in it too long, or if the bleach is not sufficiently diluted and mixed into the water before the garment is added. Mix no more than one cup (250 ml) of chlorine-based bleach with a full twenty-gallon (80 liter) load of water in your washing machine, if it's a top-loading washing machine; for a front-loading washing machine, use much less, following the manufacturers' instructions.

I prefer to use other color remover chemicals instead of bleach. There are several available, but they all work the same way. They are gentler to the fabric than hypochlorite bleach, and they are much safer for synthetic fibers or animal-based fibers. Look for Rit Color Remover, Jacquard Color Remover, Tintex Color Remover, Dylon Run Away, or Carbona Color Run Remover. You may need more than one box, if you are doing the treatment in the washing machine, and you should follow the manufacturers' instructions carefully. Like hypochlorite bleach, all of these dye removers risk removing all or part of the original color; unlike hypochlorite bleach, they are all used with heat. Hot tap water may be sufficient; for stubborn dye stains, the stovetop method is more effective.

It is okay to try both the color remover (any one of them; they are similar in their effects) and the hypochlorite bleach, but do not mix them together. Sometimes Rit Color Remover will work on a dye that hypochlorite bleach won't work on, or bleach will work on a dye that Rit Color Remover is not so good for. You never want to mix hypochlorite bleach with other chemicals, however. If you use one of these products, be sure to launder the dress well before trying the other product.

I hope you'll be able to salvage your dress.

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Posted: Wednesday - December 15, 2010 at 08:47 AM

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How can I remove stains caused by loose dye from another garment?

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