I have a 100% cotton dress that is dark brown and I'd like to make it dark purple

Name: Terre

—ADVERTISEMENTS—

Country or region: USA

Message: I hope this question wasn't asked already - I searched, but did not find anything applicable. I have a 100% cotton dress that is dark brown and I'd like to make it dark purple. Is this possible, and, if so, how would I go about doing this?

You can easily go from purple to brown, by adding some of purple's complementary color, which is yellow, but you cannot go directly from brown to purple, unless the brown is very light in color and the purple very dark. Purple cannot cover up a dark brown.

The only color that will cover up a dark brown is black, and that only if you use a large enough quantity of dye. (It's typical to use two to four times as much dye, per pound of fabric, when dyeing black, as you would use for a lighter color.)

It might be possible to lighten the color of your dark brown dress, using a sulfur-based color remover, such as Rit Color Remover. While I normally do not recommend Rit or any other brand of all-purpose dye for most situations, I do strongly recommend Rit Color Remover, which is a good product. It's impossible to predict whether the dye in a particular garment can be removed or bleached, because we have no idea what dyes the manufacturers of your brown dress used, and some dyes cannot be removed by any means. It's worth a try, though. Rit Color Remover works best when heated with the garment in a huge cooking pot on top of the stove, but it's much, much easier to try the washing machine method first, possibly turning up the temperature on your water heater a bit first. For a large washing machine, you will need to use several boxes of Rit Color Remover at a time.

If the color of the dress is significantly lightened by the use of the Color Remover, then you will be able to dye the dress dark purple. The dress does not have to be returned all the way to white before dyeing it, but it will need to be significantly lightened in color for the purple to work.

For dyeing a cotton dress, assuming that the color is light enough for your choice of color to show on it, I recommend the use of a fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. The results will be much longer-lasting than you can get with an all-purpose dye, such as Rit or Tintex, and it's easier to apply, too, because Procion MX dye is set with washing soda, rather than with nearly-boiling water, as all-purpose dye is. Fiber reactive dyes stay bright years longer than all-purpose dyes do, and the colors that they produce are more predictable. Dylon Permanent dye is another brand of fiber reactive dye, mostly containing Drimarene K dyes, and it is somewhat easier to find in crafts stores or sewing stores, though more expensive and more limited in color selection, like all-purpose dyes. Unless you have a very superior crafts store nearby, you will need to mail-order your Procion MX dye.

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

Posted: Monday - August 30, 2010 at 09:15 PM

Follow this blog on twitter here.
Tweet

getBlogName(); > getCategoryName("<$EntryCategoryFolder$>"); >

I have a 100% cotton dress that is dark brown and I'd like to make it dark purple

> >