Dyeing a silk garment

Maybe all you dyeing mavens can help me with this. My daughter's wedding gown is the original unbleached silk charmeuse that it was when I made it, but she'd love to be able to wear it again without it looking like a "wedding" gown. I am not terribly comfortable dyeing it myself, although I guess I could. Is there someplace we could take it that will do a good job of dyeing it?

The entire gown is silk, lining, interlining, and underlining, and it is trimmed with pearls, both individual pearls that I stitched on, and a four-row pearl trim on the neckline, armscye and empire waist. It's a very simple style, not froufrou at all. Any advice gratefully accepted.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm
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Yeah - I'd be wary of tackling that at home if you want a solid colour - for even, solid coverage, you'll need a professional dye vat for total immersion. Even then, they won't usually guarantee a result - it will be at your own risk.

How about looking for a bridal shop/shoe shop that offers dyed satin shoes? They must send them out somewhere. Or a very high-end dry cleaner that is used to dealing with evening gowns - they sometimes offer dyeing services. Anywhere that dyes curtains will have a large vat, too.

Things to watch out for:

  • Dark or strong colours are generally better than pastels if you want to stop a wedding dress from looking like a bridesmaid's dress, but these are harder to fix at a low temperature, so ask if dyeing at a high temperature will change the hand of the fabric.

  • You might get problems with the pearl trim, and if it can be removed, then reattached, so much the better - not only might the trim inhibit penetration of the dye, the high temperatures used in some dye techniques can 'skin' the finish off the pearls. Best to ask if this might be a problem.

  • You might find a high-end dry cleaner that is used to removing trim, dyeing the garment and reattaching, but it will be expensive - I did it once in London and it was about six times the cost of ordinary dyeing.

  • Make sure the dress is extremely clean under the arms - the aluminium salts in anti-perspirants can leave you with lovely white patches where the dye won't take.

For ordinary dyeing, I used to take items to Sketchley dry cleaners in England. They would only dye in a limited range of colours, but I usually wanted black, so it wasn't a problem. However, they stopped offering a dyeing service after some years, because they had so many complaints from customers about the fact that the stitching didn't take up the dye at the same rate (poly thread, of course). I'm guessing that you used silk or cotton thread, but just mention this on the offchance you didn't.

HTH anyway.

:) Trish

Reply to
Trishty

what does Dharma have to say about a project like this?

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they know everything there is to know about dye...

Penny S

Reply to
Penny S

Great advice, Trish. Thank you!

Since you've actually seen a photo of the dress, I should have just asked you first. LOL

I'll share this information with my daughter. She just wants to be able to wear the gown again, but doesn't want it to look as though it was a recycled wedding gown, or worse, her nightgown. We've been thinking it would look gorgeous in a deep, gunmetal grey, but you're right about the trim. It might also look better with different trim, altogether, especially if it's a different color. The pearls look lovely on the natural silk, but maybe something a little more sparkly would look just as nice.

Great ideas! Lots to think about.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

Thanks for the suggestion about Darma Trading, Penny, but if I can avoid dyeing it myself I'm going to.

We'll be looking for someone to dye it locally, unless I can sell her on another idea.

Thanks, all.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

SewStorm murmured while asleep:

oh, I thought you WANTED to do it yourself!!

oops. ;-)

Reply to
Penny S

LOL, only in the most extreme case of dire necessity. And we aren't anywhere near that yet.

If it weren't silk, and if it weren't her wedding gown, though, I'd do it in the blink of an eye. I did dye an old, 1970s dress last winter, for my youngest daughter to wear to Winter Formal. It was darling on her, but she didn't care for the pale aqua (think 1970s bridesmaid's dress), plus another (red) dress had faded onto it in one big splotch across the skirt front. First we dyed it with Rit black, but it turned out sort of charcoal. Then we added about a half package of red, and a little bit of blue, and it turned into a gorgeous, rich shade of burgundy.

This weekend is Winter Formal again, and she's wearing another gown of mine from 1974. Since this is the aforesaid red one, and since the color is still perfect, it doesn't need a thing done to it. And it looks darling on her.

Was I really ever that thin? Amazing!!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

Re: Dyeing a silk garment Group: alt.sewing Date: Fri, Dec 12, 2003, 8:10pm (EST+5) From: snipped-for-privacy@aol.comspamless (SewStorm) oh, I thought you WANTED to do it yourself!! LOL, only in the most extreme case of dire necessity. And we aren't anywhere near that yet. If it weren't silk, and if it weren't her wedding gown, though, I'd do it in the blink of an eye.

Reply to
sewingbythecea

Thanks for all the references, Cea. I'm printing this out for future reference!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

I'd not try dye for satin shoes, most of the ones I've seen aren't really very permenant. They really just put it on with a very large q tip. It is kinda of a brush. They dip it into a jar of dye, and rub it on. If you look you might see the stripes up very close.

Sandy

Reply to
Corasande

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