Question about dyeing fabric...

[Keycube]

Greetings!

A friend of mine is looking to do a Game of Thrones themed Halloween for her 3 Chihuahuas (Jon Snow, Ghost, and Ygritte), and she's only finding wolf costumes that are grey-ish in color. She claims that you can't dye something white, but she's finding that people are recommending airbrushing it somehow. Does this sound right?

Or is there perhaps a better way around this altogether?

I know if anyone will have the right answer, it will be someone here! Thanks!

 

[Iggy]

To get something white you would usually bleach it. Depending on what it is made of though, that bleach could destroy it. Do you know what outfit she is seeing? Or is this more of a generic question regarding dying a faux fur?

I would just get some white faux fur and sew a little outfit. Shouldn't be that hard. Dog outfit patterns are pretty simple with a wrap around.

 

[Keycube]

I would just get some white faux fur and sew a little outfit. Shouldn't be that hard. Dog outfit patterns are pretty simple with a wrap around.

This is a great point. The pup is so small that it could be hand sewn pretty easily, I suspect (she has a nice sewing machine but is still uncomfortable with it). And it would likely be the best-looking alternative as well. Thanks!

 

[wetcelery]

If it's just cotton based materials, or calico, or fabrics like that then Rit Dye colour remover would be fine, though it may have a slight hint of its former colour. For fur, I'm afraid I don't know but that's my two cents!

 

[TinyHippo]

Seconded on buying something like faux fur. Dye is additive so you can't really dye something white. I also think bleach or color remover would go poorly on fur. For the cost of an airbrush machine you could probably make a dozen Chihuahua costumes. Even a place like Walmart will carry cheap faux fur, that's probably your friend's best option.

 

[fallimar]

Yeah, you can't really dye faux fur at all with any sort of permanency. The colour is set into the fibres and bleach will frizzle the stuff rather than just remove colour. You -can- airbrush it but white over colour is generally not going to work so well, you need to work from a lighter base. You can frost the tips but yeah, can't really get rid of colour.

Your only real bet is to buy white faux fur and add in any detail with an airbrush - leather dyes work well to add some colour though even acrylic paint thinned with fabric medium will do just fine. You won't be able to wash it without needing major touchups but it will look great.
As for patterning and such, you can take apart an existing dog costume that fits and use that to pattern it out, then add cool stuff! Or maybe even find a pattern online, I'm sure there are heaps around.