Need Major Help with Dying a Costume

Need Help/Tutorial for Dying a Suit
Hello Everyone:

I want to be The Riddler (Arkham City) for halloween and am a perfectionist when it comes to creating costumes. Since I have been have little to no luck with finding a green suit, I am just going to buy a cheap suit and dye it the color I want (green, of course).

I have had no experience in dying any fabrics, but I want to do the machine wash fabric dying method, as that is the only affordable method I can do. If anyone reading this can give any advice, tutorials, or any other means of help to dye my suit (I have not purchased one at the moment), I will be very grateful, as I don't want to mess this up.

Here is a reference picture of what I want to accomplish:
http://images.wikia.com/villains/ima...kham_city).jpg

Thank you all for your time and input.

One thing to keep in mind, the only way to dye a fabric, is that it has to natural fibers. Cotton, wool, leather, hide, natural fur.

Deelite said:

One thing to keep in mind, the only way to dye a fabric, is that it has to natural fibers. Cotton, wool, leather, hide, natural fur.

Click to expand...

that is not entirely true, there are dyes that work on synthetic fibres as well, alltho i have never tested those.

So if a blazer or pants was like 65% polyester and 35% cotton, would I need to buy both a natural fiber dye and a synthetic fiber dye and mix them or something?

Bumping this thread because my husband wants to dress as the Spirit. I have scoured every thrift store in the area, and can't any suits in blue, other than navy, in a size that might work. I was considering buying a suit in his size and using it as a pattern, but I've never made one before and the idea intimidates me. Plus, the con is only a month away and I'm still working on my own costume. I'm not confident that I'd be able to finish it in time. Has anyone had any success dying a suit? I know I'd have to be careful what kind of fabric it's made of, because some synthetic blends don't take dye well. I'm also super worried about the color being blotchy and whether or not it will be bright enough. Other than prepping the fabric with RIT dye remover, what else can I do to get good results? How would it work to put the dye in a bottle and spray the suit while it's hanging, rather than risk staining my bathtub?

Did the OP ever do this project? Has anyone successfully dyed a business-type suit? Since many of the clothes at the Salvation Army no longer have tags and I may not be able to find out the fabric composition, should I just go ahead and buy dye for synthetic fibers?

Something to be aware of with using fabric dye like you're describing is that it often doesn't "take" well in the stitching. You may end up with exactly the color you want in the main body of the fabric, but the stitching is still pretty much the old color. (Ask me how I know ...)

The best answer I've heard for this is that even if the main fabric of the garment is cotton, often the thread is 100% polyester, and it doesn't absorb the dye color much, if at all.


Just thought you'd like a heads-up before you dive into this project.

Well, at this point, I don't even know if it's going to happen because we haven't been able to find a suit at the thrift stores, but thanks for the heads up. If I do it, I'll probably just assume I need synthetic fiber dye. Or do you mean that even the stuff for synthetic fibers won't work on poly thread?

I used very hot water (over 140 degrees) in a washer with multiple packets of purple and violet dye designed for synthetics. I placed brick over the suit to keep it submerged and flipped it every five minutes for an even coloring. I actually think synthetics are easier because they don't shrink from the heat.

The original suit was Amazon.com: New Men's Double Breasted (DB) Gangster Style Tan Pinstripe Dress Suit: Clothing

I can get you more pics of the entire suit when I get home, but it even changed the color of the buttons

Yeah, I've dyed a lot of fabric, and it's a bit of a fraught process. First of all, you can't dye light over dark. If you want green, start with white or pale cream, no greys, browns or tans. The base colour will affect the dyeing process. Think of it like hair dye - if your hair's dark you have to bleach it before you can colour it. If it's yellow blonde, red dye will turn it orange, not red, etc.

Secondly, on the synthetic fabric thing - I've not found a dye that works on synthetics yet. Honestly I haven't tried dyes that are supposedly for synthetic fabrics, but I'm very skeptical for the reason that synthetic fabrics are often coloured in production (the substance the fibres are made of is coloured in liquid state) rather than after the fact. I know there are printed synthetics though, so there has to be some way of doing it post-thread. Hm.

I have had friends tell me they've had success using watered-down acrylic paint with fabric medium as a synthetic dye solution, though I'd be dubious on the washability of the final fabric. For just a couple of wears it might work.

Have you considered simply sewing a simple suit from green fabric? You could get the pattern just right based on the character art, and it'd fit perfectly, to boot!