Can I dye a red dress green?
You can get new colours by over dyeing. (example: red fabric turns purple if you dye it blue without lightening the colour before). Your desired colour results will often dictate if you decide to lighten before or over dye. See how the colours relate below:
If you are dyeing your fabric a similar or darker colour you don’t always have to lighten before. You can get new colours by over-dyeing (example: red fabric turns purple if you dye it blue without lightening the colour before).
As an example, if you were dyeing red fabric, we would recommend adding some green dye to your dyebath. Since mixing red and green makes black, adding a green dye to your dyebath will counteract the red on the fabric.
Use one box of Rit powder for 1 lb. of clothing or half a bottle of the liquid to 3 gallons of hot water. Dissolve powdered dye in 2 cups hot water to mix before adding the color to the rest of the water. For a dark green color, use 2 boxes or 1 full 8-oz. bottle of dye. Darker colors require double the amount of dye to achieve the desired shade.
Most designers know that blue and red are the worst color combinations possible when it comes to text, and especially blue text on a red background. The colors are both too strong and fight to overpower each other, which plays tricks with our eyes.
You can overdye pink clothes to a lot of different colors: bright red, bright orange, deep blue, purple, black, or brown. You cannot recolor pink to light yellow or green, but that’s about the only limitation.
It’s absolutely possible to dye a colored piece of fabric. The way that dyes work, any color you put on colored fabric will simply combine and the result will be a mix of the two colors. This is a known tie-dye technique called redyeing. Let’s say that you have a blue shirt, for example.
To make burgundy, start with cardinal red (scarlet red can be subbed) and add a deep neutral dye like dark brown (charcoal grey or black can be subbed) and then add a little dark plum fabric dye (purple can be subbed).
When over-dyeing add the ‘complementary colour’ to neutralize a bright base from coming through when you dye Black or Charcoal Grey (example: existing scarlet red fabric + black + some forest green = black without red tones). Mix 2-3 dyes together to make a new colour.
Thoroughly wet fabric (you can run large pieces through the washing machine’s rinse cycle to wet them evenly) and immerse in dye bath. With a stainless steel spoon (or a wooden spoon reserved only for dyeing), move fabric around in water to avoid uneven dyeing. Keep item in dye 5 to 15 minutes, stirring the whole time.
Dissolve powdered dye in 2 cups hot water to mix before adding the color to the rest of the water. For a dark green color, use 2 boxes or 1 full 8-oz. bottle of dye. Darker colors require double the amount of dye to achieve the desired shade.
Yes, colored and printed fabrics can be dyed. It’s a method called overdyeing.
