Separating clothes by colour before washing them. Read our article on how to do laundry for more guidance on this. Rit Colour Remover makes it possible to remove the existing colour from yet-to-be dyed fabric, giving you a dye-ready canvas for spectacular results and true colour! It is possible to dye over patterned fabric, but the print itself may turn into unexpected colors, or stay the same color, depending on how it was printed. Another thing to keep in mind – one that doesn’t add any complexity but may add one extra step – is that if you’re working with a previously worn garment, you’ll want to pay special attention to pre-washing and stain treatment. Stains that are visible or barely visible can show up in a freshly overdyed garment. You’ll want to pre-wash and stain treat thoroughly, but also keep in mind that these areas can absorb dye differently. If you have, for example, spattered oil or tomato sauce all over the front of a shirt, you may wish to consider a scrunch-dye, tie-dye, or low-immersion dye bath that will add some texture to disguise these stains, as overdyeing them in a solid color is unlikely to completely hide them, even if the stains are very light and you’re planning a very dark color.

The first thing is you need to know the type of fabric that you’re working with. This is because 100% polyester and polyester blend need to be treated differently when dyeing. You should only use disperse dye if the blend has more than 35% synthetic fibers. After that you will need to rinse the garment with warm water, followed by another wash cycle, before it is ready to be dried. Natural dyes If you don't have a good colour run remover, a home remedy can also work well for shifting stubborn colour stains. Prepare the color remover solution by filling up a stainless steel pot ¾ of the way with water, or until the water is enough to cover your fabric. Heat up the water until it starts to generate small bubbles, then lower the heat to simmer (don’t boil the water).Keep in mind that things like nylon zips and most stitching, some linings, will [remain the] original colour after the dyeing process,” Van Amber cautions, since these are often made from synthetic fibres. Dye DIY In this ultimate guide to dyeing polyester, you’ll learn everything you need to know before getting started dyeing your fabric. By the time you’re done reading this guide, you will feel 100% comfortable getting started dyeing your polyester fabric. Dyeing Polyester

If you want to dye synthetic fabrics at home, using disperse dye is the easiest way to go. Rit DyeMore is a household name that sells disperse dyes, and their dye formula works very well with any fabric that has more than 35% of the synthetic component.Dab the stain with the white cloth repeatedly, and the dye should keep transferring from your garment onto the white cloth. 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: