Dying already dyed clothing?

[S.Kenton]

I recently made a deal with a fellow and received some nice period clothing, such as, drop front pants, vest and a pair of fly front knee britches. All is great with the quality and design of the clothing...except for one thing.......they are all lime green...terrible color. So my question is this: can I dye these articles of clothing a darker brown color? If so how? Thanks

 

[necchi]

Ritz.

 

[Stophel]

Know that whatever color dye you use to overdye with, it will combine with the original color to make something you may not expect.

Brown is actually an exceptionally difficult color to achieve with RIT dye. What they call brown is purple. What they call tan is pink. I just dyed some cotton fabric and FINALLY got a decent brown color with it. Honestly, I can't remember the total different colors of dye I had to use to get it. First was their "dark brown" (hideous purple), then yellow to try to counteract the purple, then something else, I'm not sure, then dark green. Lots of fun.

Various shades of gray can be made by dying with opposite colors. The opposite of green being red, if you dyed with a red dye, you would get some kind of grayish. It can take quite a bit of experimenting to make a color that you like this way.

 

[tenngun]

Black may do a darkening that you can live with. Often in colonial times men wore some colors that we avoid today. My wife loves decorating shows. One old English decorating shows took viewers into middle class homes. Some of the popular color combinations were not what you would see hear. Your barnyard green might be close to a color of the day.

 

[S.Kenton]

Ritz.

Do you mean RIT dye? I was planning on trying that...but didn't know how effective it might be.

 

[S.Kenton]

Great...that's what I worried about. So if I start with a base color of a feminine lime green....what colors would have to add to get a chocolate brown? I might just go and use black like tenngun suggested...black and green mixed will still make a lighter shade of black.... Correct?

 

[Stophel]

You'll probably never get chocolate brown. Not with RIT dye, and not with it being green already.

If I were you, I'd try dipping an unseen part of the clothes, like maybe the inside corner of a pocket or something, in a red dye, wring it out, let it dry and see what you've got. It will be grayish, and I'm thinking it will lean a little toward brown. But you'll get no guarantees from me! :haha:

There is a Dye remover, but it won't remove all the original color. And by the way, do NOT bleach it in any attempt to remove the color!!! Bleach destroys fabric. The dye remover is worth a try, though, as it might help you get a somewhat cleaner slate to work with.

Of course, the simple thing would be to dye it darker green. :wink:

 

[S.Kenton]

My next question was about bleaching the fabric...which you already answered.... :wink: thanks guys for the answers...I'm thinking I will mix a little black with some dark green and see what that does.

 

[BillinOregon]

I had good luck dyeing some rose colored linen breeches a medium brown using fiber reactive dye from Dharma Trading Company.

 

[Ringel05]

If it's wool you want Dylon "cold water" dyes or Jacquard acid dyes and color removers. Jacquard's one of the best on the market, beats Ritz hands down.