Can I bleach my linen sheets from orange to white?

July 16, 2022 9:18 AM

I'm seeing lots of articles online about how to re-brighten previously white sheets but not as many on how to confidently change a deeply colored sheet to white, and then perhaps to a different color from there. Is this project likely to work?

I'm working with a Parachute linen top sheet — this orange one — made from European flax. Ideally I'd get it to white or a light tan/cream. This short article describes a half hour process with bleach, water, a bathtub, a stick, and a washing machine. Is that right? Or do you know of a source to really get this right?

It would be stellar if I could dye it some other color after that, more like their pink. That process looks easier and I've found credible resources on it, so I feel confident about it. Just not sure I can get to the white base first.

I have a pillowcase to use as a test.

posted by rockyraccoon to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

The bleach may damage the flax and degrade the fabric. You should consider using Rit Color Remover instead. Since the color you'd like to dye the sheet is in the same family, I think you'll get decent results. The color removal process may give you a color you like without having to re-dye it. The problem with dyeing large items like a sheet is you may not get even color saturation.
posted by XtineHutch at 9:25 AM on July 16, 2022 [10 favorites]

I don't know if you could get these all the way to white, I kind of doubt it. It would probably end up a splotchy yellowish grey, and bleach will damage the fabric if you're using that much for that long. But that pink colour is definitely dark enough that you could achieve it with just some RIT colour remover and then dye. There are colour formulas for combining RIT dyes to achieve lots of different colours (see here for some examples), so you don't need to go with the default out-of-the-bottle colour.
posted by 100kb at 9:29 AM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

Linen is somewhat sturdy, but I'd go with the Rit color remover. as suggested. Then you should be able to get it to something at least peach-y. Or, just over-dye it with pink. It would be more deep peach, but probably pretty.
posted by theora55 at 9:35 AM on July 16, 2022

The tricky thing with large pieces of fabric is having a container large enough for them to move freely enough through the dye or bleach so that they don’t end up patchy. I would contact Dharma Trading Co and ask what they recommend. Lots of good info on technique on the site and they love answering questions like this.
posted by corey flood at 9:37 AM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

As a long time diy dyer, color removing is so, so hard. I typically only do this on fabric or clothing that I don't care if I ruin. Because most of the time, the fabric gets ruined. Typically because either not enough dye gets removed, or it is uneven removal, or the original colour of the fabric is not what I want. Like trying for white and the underlying fabric is yellowish. Another BIGGER problem is that even if you remove the colour from the fabric itself to your satisfaction, the stitching will almost always remain the original colour because most thread these days is polyester, and therefore impossible to remove colour from. So unless I am willing to live with mismatched thread, I need to consider that will I need to remove that thread and resew the garment. Honestly better to gift nice linen to someone who might appreciate it.
posted by nanook at 10:13 AM on July 16, 2022 [18 favorites]

Hive mind -- is sun bleaching an option here? If so, does the process of exposing a fully open sheet to the sun work better with a dry fabric or a damp fabric?
posted by TrishaU at 12:30 PM on July 16, 2022

The good news is that those colors are not orange and pink, they are brown and pink toned brown. I don't think you'll get an even cream if you bleach it, not without damaging the fabric, a sheet is a lot of fabric to wrangle so it will be patchy. You could try washing the sheet a bunch and seeing how much it fades, and then dying with a pink / red dye. (There's still a good chance it will come out patchy.)

With sun bleaching, I don't think it matters if the fabric starts out dry or wet because it'll dry anyway, and it would need to be out there for days to make any difference. There would likely be fade lines.
posted by Sar at 3:18 PM on July 16, 2022