What dye can I use to cover stains on blends of cotton with modal, cotton with rayon, cotton with elastane, and viscose with elastane?

Name: Ruth

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Message: I need help. I am trying to find a dye appropriate for my clothes. They are a mix of cotton with modal, cotton with rayon, cotton with elastane, and viscose with elastane. These shirts were stained and I want to dye them to get rid of the stain. I want to dye them to their original color which is antique rose. Please help me. Thank you.

I can tell you what kind of dye is suitable for your clothing, but it's not going to cover up any stains. All dye is transparent. It will darken both the stained and the unstained regions of your clothing.

Applying an antique rose dye will have no effect on dark stains. If you have light stains on your clothing, as from bleach, they too won't be covered up well by dye, because the unstained areas get darker every time you dye the garment. (See "How can I fix bleach spots on clothing?".)

You might try Rit Color Remover on the stained garments. It will remove many stains, and it will also remove most but not all dyes, without destroying synthetic fibers as chlorine-based bleach does. Unfortunately, all color removers, other than chlorine bleach, work best in very hot water, but elastane is sensitive to heat, and is best treated with water only at or below 105°F.

A better answer might be to distract the eye from the stains by dyeing your pieces in a range of dark and light shades of rose, or in a variety of colors. A stain that is unwearably obvious on a light solid-colored garment may not matter much at all on a multicolored piece. See "How to Do Low Water Immersion Dyeing".

To answer the question of what dye is appropriate for your clothing, viscose is another name for rayon, and modal is a type of rayon; all of these fibers are reprocessed cellulose, generally made from wood. Since cotton is composed of cellulose, too, all three of these fibers are colored with the same types of dye. See "How to Dye Cotton" and "How to Dye Rayon". Elastane is the European name for what is usually called spandex or Lycra in the US; see "How to Dye Spandex (also known as Lycra® or elastane)". The best choice for a long-lasting dye on a cellulose fiber, or a mostly-cellulose spandex blend, is a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. (See "About Fiber Reactive Dyes".) Unlike direct dye or all-purpose dye, this fiber reactive dye can be used at room temperature, which is much kinder to the elastane than the simmering to boiling temperatures required for the hot water dyes, and it is much easier to use than vat dyes.

You might be able to find fiber reactive dyes at a local crafts or fabric store in the form of Dylon Permanent Dye or Tulip Permanent Dye, though both require higher temperatures than Procion MX dye does. Since you're in Massachusetts, I strongly encourage you to buy from PRO Chemical & Dye, instead, an excellent dye supplier with very good prices that happens to be located in your area. Their PRO MX brand of Procion dye allows many more color choices than Dylon or Tulip, and it costs considerably less, per garment dyed, as well. See my page of "Sources for Dyeing Supplies Around the World", for links and contact information for these and many other dye sellers.

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Posted: Tuesday - November 29, 2011 at 08:28 AM

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What dye can I use to cover stains on blends of cotton with modal, cotton with rayon, cotton with elastane, and viscose with elastane?

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