Name: Sam

Message: Hi! I gather you are very knowledgable about dyeing clothing and I have a question if you have time to answer.

I recently bought a hat, one of those trucker hats with the netting in the back. An example would be here:

http://www.theclothinglab.com/images/meshblank.jpg

My hat is all white with a symbol in the front of th ehat which is in blue. I would like to dye the back netting part dark blue and Im wondering if that is at all possible without screwing it up. The hat is 65% cotton and 35% polyester. The back netting (as well as the clip in the back) feel like plastic and cloth. I do not know which type of dye to use and need some advice!

Is the back netting itself apparently made of some sort of plastic? If so, it is probably nylon, which can be dyed with acid dye, a dye type that will leave the polyester and cotton pretty much alone. Is that what you want?

If so, you need to buy plain acid dye. All-purpose dye, such as Rit, is a combination of acid dye and direct dye, so it dyes nylon nicely, but it will also dye the cotton portion of the front of the hat - ideal if that's what you want, but to be avoided if you want to leave that part alone. The fact that all-purpose dye is not very washfast on cotton will not matter much on a hat, so it's a good choice to color the whole hat. (I usually recommend against the use of all-purpose dye on cotton.)

Plain acid dye can be purchased from a number of the mail-order companies listed on my Sources for Supplies page. ProChem is probably the single best source. They're a great source of instructions and advice, as well.