Dying Clothes

[Lea]

Hi ladies,

I was just wondering if any of you have had experience with dying clothes..and to see if I could get some advice?

There are two articles of clothing that have been sitting in my wardrobe for years & have hardly been worn. Both are pink, and while I loved them at the time of buying them...I'm now over the pink-ness of them.

One is a linen skirt with embroidery & a polyester lining. You know the style of skirt where the lining is separate from the skirt and hangs about an inch lower with satin ribbon around the edging?

The second piece is a suede jacket (yes. a pink suede jacket :headh:). But I'm guessing I'll have to take the jacket to a leather specialist and pay through the nose for it.

But I'd like to attempt to dye the skirt myself...I've just never done it before.

So any hints or tips ladies?

Thanks

[jillybeanz]

It's been so long since I dyed anything I can't remember all the ins and outs of it lol. I would suggest you get a little piece of material like your skirt to test first. Suede is definitely best done by the experts if you love your coat.

[Binx]

Defo take the jacket to a leather specialist and be prepared to pay. Also, check out cobblers and dry-cleaners with suggestions as to who to use because sometimes they know the cheaper people.

The skirt is going to be difficult to dye - because you should really be using one type of dye for the polyester and that dye doesn't react well to the protein base in the fabric from the linen.

If you really like your skirt then maybe take it to a seamstress to have it dyed. But if you're resigned to maybe letting it go, just try the old Dylon clothes dyeing solution.
Normally I chuck all my dye and re-dye clothes into a laundromat washer and let it do its thing... sometimes I have to re-dye up to 3 times.

[Lea]

Defo take the jacket to a leather specialist and be prepared to pay. Also, check out cobblers and dry-cleaners with suggestions as to who to use because sometimes they know the cheaper people.

That's the thing. I only paid about $50.00 for the jacket (brand new on special) and am wondering if it might be cheaper in the long run to just buy a new black leather
jacket & either try to sell the pink one on ebay or donate it to charity.