My friend gave me this sweater that is made of 100% acrylic fabric. It's this hideous hot pink color, which really isn't my style. Is there any way I can dye it a different color? I'm thinking maybe put black on it and turn it a mauve color. Would that work?

Acrylic is a difficult fiber to dye. You can't use the same kinds of dyes that work on natural fibers. Don't try all-purpose dye (such as Rit dye) or fiber reactive dye (such as a tie dye kit), because the dye will just wash out of acrylic, no matter what you try to fix it with. See my page on How to Dye Acrylic.

There are two kinds of dye that work on acrylic. The safer type is called disperse dye; it is the same kind of dye used to dye polyester. You can buy it only by mail-order. Sources for disperse dye include PRO Chemical & Dye, which sells "PROsperse" disperse dye, and Blick Art Materials, which sells "iDye Poly" disperse dye. You will not be able to get a very dark or intense color on acrylic with disperse dye, but it will produce good pale to medium shades. If you use blue disperse dye, your sweater will turn light purple; blue and black together should turn it mauve.

The other type of dye that works on acrylic is called basic dye. It's hard to find, ever since Jacquard discontinued their Wood & Reed Dyes. You can still buy basic dyes by mail-order from Aljo Dyes in New York. However, I do not recommend that you use basic dyes in your kitchen, because some of them are suspected of causing cancer. Disperse dyes are safer for home use.

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