You probably learned something about color mixing in school – red and blue make purple, yellow and blue make green, and the difference between primary and secondary colors. Dyes, like paints, are composed of pigments, and overdyeing is essentially just mixing pigments, the same way you’d mix paint. Iron is an effective mordant but will darken the end result with a brownish tint. Use iron for earth tone results. To create an iron bath, boil a few old nails in a large pot of water. You can use this chart and list to plan out what color your overdye bath should be. Do keep in mind that results can’t be guaranteed and that different fiber contents and fabric types can impact the outcome of a dye project. The list below anticipates that one of your ingredients is the fabric and one is the dye bath – it doesn’t matter which is which. Pour the dye into the water as the washing machine fills. Do not add the clothes yet. By adding the dye to the machine as it fills with water, you do not need to stir it. The rapid flow of water into the basin will stir the dye in. [3] X Research source Make sure that the fabric is thoroughly washed before you start dyeing. This process will remove any dirt, wax, or chemical residue left on the fabric, which can affect the result of the dye.

In general, if your garment requires delicate treatments and dry-cleaning, it should not be dyed with disperse dye, which usually requires boiling to set. Polyester is a synthetic fiber that is known for being very durable and practical in sportswear, but it also means it doesn’t have a lot of the absorbent abilities that natural fibers do.

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Jeans are an interesting case. Traditionally, denim is made with two different colored threads combined in a twill weave. One is indigo blue, and the other is white. If you overdye jeans in, say, hot pink (I’ve included a photo) – the white will absorb the pink as-is, and the blue will absorb just a tiny tint of warmth from the pink, resulting in an overall purple effect. A friend of mine has done this in lime green as well. The dye isn’t powerful enough to change the color of the blue, but the overall tint of the fabric changes ever so slightly since the white threads are no longer white. How to overdye fabric:

When buying partner items like this one, your contract of sale will be with our Range Plus Partner instead of us. It is no more complicated to overdye fabrics than it is to dye white items. You still have the same choices of dye depending on the fiber content of your garment or fabric, and you still need the same supplies as you would with any other dye bath. The added layer of complexity comes only in the planning stage. If you’re starting with a garment or fabric that has a color already, and you’re trying to arrive at a particular color, you’ll need to do a bit of planning (and potentially testing!) to figure out what color you need to use for your overdye bath.Commercial stain removers can also be very effective. Just follow the directions on the label, and test the product in a small area first. Dab the stain with the white cloth repeatedly, and the dye should keep transferring from your garment onto the white cloth. Rebecca Van Amber, a textile scientist at RMIT University, recommends Rit Dye for at-home projects. Photograph: Rit Dye Rit has a non-chlorine type of color remover that can work on polyester, but if your polyester fabric had been dyed with disperse dye, it might have limited success. Some polyester fabrics are blended with nylon or spandex to increase their elasticity. These materials can’t withstand high temperatures and can’t be used with disperse dyes, which are usually heat-set.