Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with clothing and dye

How do you stop clothes dye from bleeding?

twinkles2sf — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:39:34 -0800

How do you stop clothes dye from bleeding? I have a skirt and jacket suit that is vibrant red in color. When I first bought it about a decade ago it would bleed a little onto the sweater I would wear underneath. Now just in the period it takes to try the outfit on my sweater will be red. The label says Dry Clean only so I've never tried washing it in a washer to see if the excess dye will go away, but maybe that's the route I'll have to go? I'm afraid of messing it up. The suit looks fine. It's just if I wear it I can't take the jacket off or everyone will see how red it's changed whatever I'm wearing underneath.
Any suggestions?

Dying cotton clothes without shrinking them?

flyingcowofdoom — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:28:37 -0800

Is it possible to dye white shirts and dark blue shirts (both 100% cotton with a shelf bra that is 95% cotton/5% spandex) black without shrinking them? I have some shirts that are white and some that are dark blue that I would like to dye black. All of the shirts are 100% cotton with shelf bras that are 95% cotton / 5% spandex. I have read about using fiber-reactive dyes that are supposedly "cold water dyes" but they still require very warm water. How warm can the water be before it starts to shrink the clothes? Are there any dyes that work in actual cold water? Any shared experiences would be helpful! TIA!

Can I dye a silk shirt?

puddinghead — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 21:38:50 -0800

I'd like to dye a silk blouse. Any thoughts? Any suggestions for an appropriate brand of dye, or should I not attempt this at all?

Why does washing my colored clothes make them blotchy so often?

cadge — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 07:12:30 -0800

What's causing my clothes to occasionally come out of the wash with blotchy spots where the dye has been lightened/removed? I've noticed that sometimes, my colored clothes come out of the wash with blotches where the dye has been lightened/removed somehow.

Somtimes it seems to happen in sweaty areas (like the neck fold on my turtleneck, turning from camel to a light orange, or the neckline on my summertime shirt), but sometimes it just happens randomly (streaks on the front of my blue t-shirt).

It seems to happen mostly when I use Tide liquid detergent in my parents' washer (not when I use Seventh Generation at the laundromat). If possible I'd like to find a way to work around this while not forcing my parents to purchase a different detergent and not having to lug a thing of Seventh Gen home myself.

Does anyone know why this might be happening? How can I avoid this? I'm losing more shirts than I'd like!

Help me dye my shirt with coffee!

Kololo — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 18:55:22 -0800

I have this fabulous fitting, great quality white shirt - with a very very permanent very light brownish/greyish stain on the shoulder. So I've been thinking of dyeing the shirt using coffee - i figure I like the colour of my other accidental coffee stains, now I just have to do it on purpose. Help me do it right, the first time! I obviously can't dye a test swatch, since I don't have another piece of fabric that's the same as my shirt. So I want to do it as well as I can, the first time! Any advice would be appreciated!

The stain on the shoulder is pretty light - visible enough that I can't really wear this shirt anymore as a "nice white shirt", but light enough that I don't think it will show through any dyeing. The fabric is 100% cotton.

I'd like to make the colour as even as possible - or, if I can't, then 'evenly mottled'.

Save my Shirts!

dseaton — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:22:36 -0800

How can I stop the color from disappearing from t-shirts? Pretty much every light blue and light grey t-shirt I've ever owned has lost color, first in splotchy patches that eventually grow to consume the entire shirt. It looks kind of like I spilled bleach on them -- except I didn't -- so I can only assume the dye has somehow reacted with my sweat or something. Or maybe it somehow washed out of the clothing, I don't really know what's happened. This whole process usually takes only a few washes and wears. This happens regardless of how careful I am to follow laundering instructions, wash in cold water, etc.

I like these colors, and I'd like to keep wearing things that are these colors, so I'm wondering if anybody has any advice on how to treat these shirts to protect the dye and prevent this from happening.