Name: John

Region: Texas

Message: Paula, I own 3 restaurants.  At one of my locations, I would like to try to have tie dye umbrellas on the patio.  Do you know someone who could take umbrellas and do this?

Hi John,

This is a very interesting question. Tie-dyed patio umbrellas would create a wonderful effect for your restaurant. Unfortunately, there are several points that make this a project too challenging for any dyer I know to want to undertake it. (See "Where can I find someone to dye my clothing for me?".) The problem with a challenging project is that it's apt to fail sometimes, driving up the dyer's costs dramatically.

The best answer may be to contact someone who make a profession of custom hand-painting patio umbrellas. Hand painting is different from tie-dyeing, but it is possible to create an effect very much like tie-dyeing through hand painting. I've seen several links pointing to an artist named Suzi Thomas. 

The main problem with tie-dyeing patio umbrellas is that most are not made with dyeable fabric. The biggest problem will be if the fabric has been treated to resist water. It is impossible to dye or paint any fabric that is water-resistant, though water repellence can be added after the dyeing or painting is done. Some fibers that umbrellas are made from are dyeable, while others are not. A 100% cotton umbrella is the most easily dyed. In contrast, if an umbrella you buy is made from acrylic or olefin, it can't be tie-dyed. The wonderfully sun-resistant fabric made by Sunbrella cannot be dyed at all after it is made. Polyester can be dyed with iron-on transfers made from disperse dyes, but the tie-dyeing technique for polyester is so cumbersome that nobody is willing to custom-dye polyester.

The other problem is that this application will require highly light-resistant dyes, far more so than anything used indoors. All dyes are susceptible to damage from sunlight, some more than others. Pigments and paints are usually more resistant than dyes, but even those can have problems. I've seen street signs that had been inadvertently painted with the wrong red pigment in their paint, so that they faded extremely quickly. Unlike fabric paints, house paints tend to be very stiff and hard when applied to fabric, but their sun-resistance is a big plus. It looks like Suzi Thomas uses exterior paints for their sun-resistance.

I hope I will be seeing hand-painted tie-dye pattern umbrellas in front of your restaurant.

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