I dyed a pair of shoes yesterday, and while they look wonderful, I simply cannot get all the dye out.

Name: Irwin

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Country or region: USA

Message: Hi there, your site has been incredibly helpful!

I'm having an issue, though. I dyed a pair of shoes yesterday, and while they look wonderful, I simply cannot get all the dye out for the life of me. I cold rinsed them once, then used hot tap water and rinsed them each for 30 minutes. When that was still not running clear, I boiled water on the stove and poured 3 deep saucepans worth of boiling water through them, and they're *still* not running clear!

What do I do? After reading a bit on your site it seems like the hard water we have in the house is the reason, but I don't know what to do with this pair of shoes. The company doesn't exist anymore-- that's why I'm dyeing them, actually, because they only came in white!

If I have to I'll just sacrifice socks for the next two years and deal with it, but if you can suggest how I could get the dye out I'd greatly appreciate it.

In any case, thank you for your wonderful site, and have a great day!

Are the shoes' uppers made of a natural plant fiber, such as cotton, linen, or hemp? Those are the best materials to dye. Dyeing cotton canvas shoes can work wonderfully. Unfortunately, polyester and nylon require completely different dyes and application methods, while some other synthetic shoe materials cannot be dyed at all except during their manufacture.

Can you tell me what kind of dye you used?

If it was good fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, and if you were using it on cotton canvas shoes, then it's likely either that your shoes' fabric contained starch sizing, or that you're right that the hard water caused this problem in the first place. If it was all-purpose dye, well, that's just the nature of the dye; all-purpose dye tends to bleed a little bit forever, with some colors being worse than others. Starch used as a fabric sizing is very difficult to remove completely, but, as the starch takes the same dyes that cotton does, the gradual wash-out of the dyed starch particles looks just like the dye is bleeding forever, when it's not really the dye. Exceptionally hard water can make it harder to wash out Procion dyes, as the result of larger complexes that form between Procion dyes in the presence of the calcium ions from hard water.

In either case, you've been doing the exact right thing to try to remove the excess dye. Hot water works best. Sorry it has not been effective! You can try soaking them in hot water, the hotter the better, before washing again in hot water. I hope the shoes are sturdy!

Another question: did you fix the dye properly? Procion and other fiber reactive dyes need a high-pH chemical, such as soda ash, in order to bond to the natural fibers they work on.

One more thing you can try is soaking the shoes in hot water with a cationic dye fixative, which you'll have to order online unless you happen to have an excellent quilter's supply store nearby. This fixative will help with any dye that has a negative molecular charge, including fiber reactive dyes such as Procion or the direct dye included in the mixture that is called all-purpose dye, assuming that you choose the correct type of dye for the fiber that you have. (It won't work if your shoes are made of polyester or another difficult-to-dye synthetic fiber, and it won't work if you used only acid dyes on a plant fiber.) I recommend that you order either Retayne or Dharma Dye Fixative, as they are the most economical products of this type, and they also seem to be better, judging from their instructions, than the similar product Rit Dye Fixative.

Good luck with your shoes.

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Posted: Friday - May 25, 2012 at 08:32 AM

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I dyed a pair of shoes yesterday, and while they look wonderful, I simply cannot get all the dye out.

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