Tips & Tricks dying cloths

I am buying an obi wan kenobi replica costume, which is made for wear, however i'm wanting to add my own touch.

can anyone tell me what kind of dye i'm going to need to change the color.
The costume can be found at jedi-robe.com

 

I should think that RIT dye would work. But it looks like you are in Britain... not sure if they have RIT dye over there. Whatever equivalent that they have over there would probably do you well.

- Bill

 

Dylon is another union dye. As long as the fabric is not 100% polyester, you may be able to overdye it a different shade.

 

Isn't it against forum rules to post links to dealers selling unlicensed items?

What a horrible item description! I was looking for information about what material it is made of, but found almost no actual useful content. Instead I read ten sentences, each saying "This product is great" in different words.

 

All that stuff looks like it's from CostumeBase.

 

Hmmm.....ya, you might be right.

I did see his(?) ads about that online store at Starwars Yahoo! Forum and saw how much it looks like CB's stuffs (also one or most of those China/HK-based Cosplay Costumes Sellers on eBay since CB stuffs do come from China. Anyway, it's a known fact tailoring cost in Singapore can get ex. so most cosplay costumes sellers here "outsource" ).

This is what CB said about theirs:

1) Inner Tunic
- Dark Brown color
- cotton/ polyester
- High collar
- Long Sleeve

2) Outer Tunic
- Beige color
- Crepe like with crinkled surface
- Polyester/ Cotton

3) Pair of Tabard
- Beige Color
- A Layer of cotton in between
- Secure to Outer tunic by button

4) Sash
- Beige color
- Crepe like with crinkled surface
- Polyester/ Cotton
- A Layer of cotton in between

5) Pants
- Gi look-a-like Pants.
- Brown Color

 

Find out what type of fabric the costume is made out of.

If you can, take a small snippet of cloth and try that in your dye. Polyester fabric and some polyester blends will not take a dye unless you get something specifically made for it. Try dharmatrading.com/. They have all kinds of dyes and advice on dying things.

You could try stain-dying it with coffee. That would still give it a nice Jedi color. But you really need to keep on top of it to dye evenly - boiling it in a big pot on the stove and stirring constantly.

And you might consider dying just the obi and tabbards. That would be easier and still make it distinctive. Obi and tabbards that are even slightly off-color from the tunic stand out better in photos, IMHO.

 

I'm pretty certain that dharma trading only sells dyes that are good on natural fibers. Polyester sometimes can take union dyes (RIT and Dylon) with heat added. The denser polyesters (things other than a chiffon) start to get really resistant. I even had a poly organza that refused to take dye.

Dyes made for polyester require lots of heat, and I think can be caustic. So IMHO if rit or dylon won't take then it's just not worth it unless your a fabric artist with a set up for big vats of heated dye

 

I don't think Dharma has any synthetic dyes, but they do have some paints. I have no idea how they'd take on Jedi fabric, though.

Paints to Use on Synthetic Fabrics

 

1-2 canister of Dylon might also only darken its color slightly for polyester so might have to use several (like 4-8?) canisters of Dylon Multi-Purpose Dye (aka Stove-top) at one go to get a darker color. And it's kinda a rule of thumb to use the color that is darker than the one you desired when comes to Polyester (Like using Paris Rose/Dark Pink to get Light/Pale Pink color on Satin)

Even when I dyed my Linen-Polyester Blend Cloth (for PC Lucy Red Dress Skirt), I barely got an medium orange color after 2 dye bath of at least 2 canisters each. Will need to try again with 4 canisters at a go, or maybe find a darker color (or the easy way out: Just buy the Silk Dupoini for the Skirt )

 

That is true - it always takes a lot of union dye to make a dent. I'd have to go back and count, but when I had to just slightly overdye (not totally change the color - just darken) my green poly/cotton blend BDUs (3 jackets, 3 pairs of pants) I had to use a large amount of dye. Something like 8 bottles of black and 8 bottles of dark green! And that only darkened it a tad after sitting in hot (not stove top, but as hot as the washer gets) water for 40 minutes. The problem with 'stove top' is that even a very large pot can only hold a small amount of fabric. You'd need to have something like a huge outdoor tub over a gas burner.

 

Dharma does sell dyes now for dyeing polyester solid colors, it is called Idye and it works better than their Pigment Dye System(which was paint but acted like a dye, sort of). The link is below but I used it to redye my 100% polyester lace for the Blue Linen Dress and it works wonderfully AND you can get a dark color even on 100% polyester, you just have to have a big pot and boil it.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/5590684-AA.shtml?lnav=dyes.html

 

Oh, that's great news about the new poly dye at Dharma. Though, it still sounds like polyester needs to be done over the stove, so if it is a large amount of fabric you wind up with the same problem (you need more of a galvanized tub heated over outdoor gas burners).

 

You are right, Kaydee but it is nice to have an option for 100% poly that is not so toxic as the dye does not give off the fumes that dispersion dyes do. I dyed the dress in a very large pot(a steamer pot) and it worked well.

 

Yup, I do like the fact that it seems less toxic fume wise And for smaller dye projects will probably work better than RIT.

 

I have found out that the material is a cotton polyester blend.

 

Hmmm.....depending on the composition of both type of threads, it might dye differently, creating a certain shade and miniture "design". I tried Dylon Hand Dyed an Ivory T-Shirt, Black a decade ago that is 50% Cotton and 50% Polyester and it ended up greyish with uniform miniture marble-like effect.

And that cloth I mentioned I dyed for my Lucy Skirt probably have a good amount of Polyester in it that in the first few minutes, it does dyed differently, with the color doesn't look uniform throughout the cloth initially. It only looked "good" tho' still not dark enough after I overdyed it twice.

 

Well What I'm looking for is dark brown, however if i can get a good earth like tone to it I'll be happy with that. from what I've read so far is that the best I'll be able to get with my limited equipment is not going to be exactly what I'm looking for anyway. so we'll see. i have not bought the costume yet, I'm just trying to get a good head start.

 

You might want to try a double batch of dye but in the regular amount of water for a single package to get a dark brown, that is, if you're going for a chocolate. But as what was said earier in the thread, it fabric really needs to be a natural fiber for the dye to really hold.

 

You should probably pre-wash the fabric before dying just to see what it looks like after washing.

After you dye it, wash it with white vinegar in hot water to set the color. And then wash it again in hot water to get the vinegar smell out. And then dry it in the dryer. Heat sets the color, too and a cotton-polyester blend will do fine in a hot dryer. You will also see how much dye you might lose in the wash. Also, be very careful with what you wash any dyed fabric with for the first few washes. Color can come off sometimes.

 

If you go to Dharma's site, www.dharmatrading.com , they have instructions on how to dye poly blend fabrics. I suggest the Idye simply b/c you can get a dark color without hours of boiling hot water

 

Thanks for all your help