I have a dress made of acetate, nylon and spandex fabric that I want to dye...what is my best option?

Name: Robin

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Dye polyester and other synthetic fibers

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Message: I have a dress made of acetate, nylon and spandex fabric that I want to dye...what is my best option? Thank you for your help!

That's not a good dress to dye, I'm afraid. Acetate should be dyed by heating it with disperse dye, while spandex should never be heated. The right way to dye that fiber blend is to dye the acetate yarns, nylon yarns, and spandex yarns separately, before weaving or knitting them together into a single fabric.

Spandex is heat-sensitive. Check the care label on your dress. It probably tells you that you should wash it only in cool water. Exceeding a temperature around 105°F is apt to make your dress lose its shape. Even for dyeing spandex before it's put together into a garment with a shape, you should never exceed 140°F. See my page,"How to Dye Spandex".

Acetate should be dyed by heating it with a special dye for synthetics, called disperse dye; home dyers can do this using a very large cooking pot on the stove. The desired temperature range for dyeing acetate is 180°F to 200°F, obviously far too hot to preserve spandex without damaging it.

Nylon is best dyed with acid dyes, but it can also be dyed with the same disperse dyes that work on acetate and polyester. It should be heated to about 185°F; higher temperatures may damage nylon, but lower ones will not result in optimal dyeing.

If you would like a tie-dyed or watercolor effect, particularly with multiple colors, then you should consider using fabric paint instead of dye. Choose a brand of fabric paint which is not supposed to leave a harsh feel on the fabric, and which is recommended for synthetic fibers; some fabric paints that are recommended only for natural fibers will not stick well to synthetic fibers. Two good possibilities would be Dye-Na-Flow, made by Jacquard Products, and Dharma Pigment Dyes, available only from Dharma Trading Company. Two warnings: you cannot use fabric paints to lighten the color of your dress, only to darken it, and you cannot get a perfectly smooth solid color.

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Posted: Friday - January 21, 2011 at 10:40 AM

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I have a dress made of acetate, nylon and spandex fabric that I want to dye...what is my best option?

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