How to dye a white rayon/poly long skirt black. What dye to use? Will a bottle of Fabric Dye by Delta work?

Question

How to dye a white rayon/poly long skirt black. What dye to use? Will a bottle of Fabric Dye by Delta work?

Answer 1

No, this is not a good project. It would be better to buy a 100 percent rayon or cotton skirt to dye.

The problem is that any fabric dye that you can buy at a local shop will completely fail to dye the polyester. The polyester in the blend will remain the original color, as will the stitching that holds the garment together, which is also made of polyester. You will end up with a gray skirt, possible a gray heather effect, when the rayon takes the dye and the polyester does not. You will not get a black skirt, no matter how much dye you use.

Polyester can be dyed only by dyeing it with a special polyester dye called disperse dye, which you can buy only by mail-order. To apply it, you must boil your skirt in the disperse dye for a half an hour or an hour. You can't boil a rayon blend skirt without destroying it, though.

You should dye your rayon/polyester skirt only if you are happy with the idea of changing the color of the rayon only, while leaving the polyester alone. You can dye rayon with cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Tulip One Step Fashion Dye, or Dylon Permanent dye.

Acrylic fabric paint, such as Delta fabric paint, will color both the polyester and the rayon, but it cannot be used to change the color of your skirt to any single solid color. The results of using a fabric paint as a dye are blotchy and uneven. Tie-dyeing with fabric paint can work, but solid shade dyeing cannot.

Answer 2

Rayon and Polyester are difficult fabrics to dye.  If there are any stains, anything at all, on the skirt, it will dye darker in that spot.  Grease stains are especially bad that way.  Look the skirt over carefully in the sunlight before you decide to dye it.