Message: Hi, I have a very light blue dress with a polyester lining and a silk overlay.  It has a band of "diamonds" around the middle. I want to dye it black.  Can this be done?  I've read about dyeing silk and polyester on your site, but is there any way to do a dress which has a layer of both that can't be separated from each other?
Thank you for your help!

I don't recommend that you try to dye the polyester portions of this dress. Polyester requires a great deal of boiling to get disperse dye to penetrate and color the fiber, and I'm afraid that the silk would be damaged by this harsh treatment. Typical instructions for dyeing silk with acid dyes specify a top temperature of 185°F (85°C), because temperatures above this limit are likely to damage silk.

There is no dye that will color both silk and polyester at the same time. The only dye that works on polyester is disperse dye, which does not work at all on natural fibers such as silk.

Depending on the design of the dress, it's possible that you could get acceptable results by dyeing only the silk fiber in the dress. The polyester lining will remain light blue, as will any stitching used to hold the dress together, since almost all natural-fiber clothing is sewn with polyester thread. The silk overlay will work well with a black acid dye; closely follow the instructions for the particular acid dye that you choose. See "About Acid Dyes".

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