Before I go buying a bunch of table cloths that will not take dye, do you know if polyspun fabric can be dyed?

Name: Jo

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Message: Hi. In a moment of insanity, I had an idea that it would be cool to tie dye the table cloths for my son's upcoming wedding rehearsal dinner. Before I go buying a bunch of table cloths that will not take dye, do you know if polyspun fabric can be dyed? You know, the type of fabric found in your average restaurant on the table. (From a restaurant supply place). If so, is there a dye brand you would recommend? Thank you.

No, you really don't want to dye polyester tablecloths! You'd need to buy an enormous cooking pot to boil each one for an hour in a special polyester dye, plus a horribly smelly carrier chemical. It would take a five-gallon pot to dye even a moderately sized tablecloth, so the cost would be prohibitive. The effort would be far more than it's worth. It's so much better to chose an easily dyeable fabric. You've probably guessed as much already, since you wrote to ask.

Cotton tablecloths would be far easier to dye, since you could use fiber reactive dyes at room temperature. Not just any cotton tablecloth will do, however. Even if you find tablecloths made of an easily dyeable fiber, there may still be a serious problem. If there is a stain-resistant finish on a tablecloth, it will resist dye as well as stains, preventing the dye from reaching the fabric. Wrinkle-resistant treatments interfere with dyeing, too, though not as badly.

It's not easy to find dyeable tablecloths. Dharma Trading Company sells some, in three sizes: 52 inches square, or 60 inches by 72 inches, or 60 inches by 102 inches. Note that those measurements are before washing, though, and significant shrinkage is to be expected. Find out what measurements you will need before deciding whether this project is doable.

Williams Sonoma sells white cotton hotel tablecloths with no claims of stain-resistance or wrinkle resistance; customer reviews make it clear that the tablecloths must be ironed, preferably with starch. This suggests that they might be dyeable. You would need to dye just one first, as a test, before knowing whether or not it would work; of course, you could not return your test tablecloth, once it is dyed, but if you kept the rest of them in their packaging until after your test, you could return them, if your test does not turn out well.

Note that only the Dharma tablecloths are labeled as having cotton thread. If a tablecloth is not labeled as to its thread content, you can be sure that the thread used in sewing the hem is made of polyester, which will not dye, but will instead remain white. This is okay in tie-dyeing, but might look odd if you use a dark color to dye the tablecloths a solid color.

Another option for you would be to use polyester tablecloths in any commercially available color, and top them with a dyeable table runner.

After you have purchased dyeable cotton or linen tablecloths, and prewashed them, I recommend that you dye them with fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dyes. It's very easy to do, because these dyes are set with washing soda, rather than with heat. The tie-dyeing kits sold by Dharma Trading Company are an excellent choice. Consider whether you want to tie-dye your tablecloths, or use low water immersion dyeing, or dye them solid colors in the washing machine. You can find instructions for these and other dyeing techniques in the instructions section of my web site, at http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/instructions.shtml.

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Posted: Thursday - June 30, 2011 at 02:19 PM

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Before I go buying a bunch of table cloths that will not take dye, do you know if polyspun fabric can be dyed?

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