TDK Joker costume - anyone working on one?

[Darth Mule]

He also wears something between the green vest and purple topcoat. It looks like just another vest, but the high cut on the lapels and the length make it look like a vintage suit jacket. The lining is also the same orange silk as the topcoat lining. You can see all this here:

That would in fact be a suit jacket. When one wears a topcoat with a suit, he doesn't take the jacket off to put the overcoat on, her wears it over the suit, thus the term Overcoat.

As far as the cut. These pics may be misleading since he's in movement in most of them. It's definitely a high button, allthough it's unclear if it has 3 or 4.

Okay, so. As is my way, I decided to start off this costume by trying to use found/thrift-store stuff as much as possible, and move on to custom-made things if that plan fails. I got myself a good-fitting pair of chocolate brown suit pants with tan pinstripes, and I got some Rit purple dye and color remover. Buuut I've never used any kind of fabric dye before. If I dye the pants as they are now, will I get a dark purple on the brown parts and a bright/light purple on the tan? OR do I need to use the color remover first in order to make the purple visible at all over the chocolate brown base?

Oh boy. Dye time.

So the first thing, and someone already mentioned it, is that if the pants are as synthetic fiber, they will not dye. They may tint, but you won't get a solid color from them. Synthetic fibers (with the exception of Rayon which is made from cotton remnants and wood pulp) are basically plastic. ex. The color of your polyester shirt is usually molded into the fiber filament.

Second, all natural fibers dye differently. Silk takes dye the best, Linen usually the worst. And all require a different preparation of your dye bath. Cellulose fibers (Cotton, Linen) require Salt to set colorfastness. You dissolve this in the bath before your fabric goes in, but after the dye is completely dissolved. Protein fibers (silk, wool) require an acid bath typically achieved by adding vinegar to the bath.

It should also be noted that if your pants are wool, they may shrink when you try to dye them.

Color remover... Will it kill your pinstripes? Depends on how the pinstripes are put into the pants. Much like dyeing, if your pants are synthetic, you cannot remove the color. However, if the pinstripe is made with a synthetic, or more stubborn thread,it may not remove like the background. Which I'm sure would be ideal. If the pinstripe is printed on, it won't remove at all as it is essentially paint.

Without color remover, in theory, the dark brown will take less dye than the light tan. Dyes are transparent and are affected by the color underneath them, thus the chocolate brown may take a purple tint, but won't turn purple.

As you can see, there are many variables. Hope this helps. One day I need to post a dyeing 101 for all to read.

 

[Patattack]

Oh boy. Dye time.

So the first thing, and someone already mentioned it, is that if the pants are as synthetic fiber, they will not dye. They may tint, but you won't get a solid color from them. Synthetic fibers (with the exception of Rayon which is made from cotton remnants and wood pulp) are basically plastic. ex. The color of your polyester shirt is usually molded into the fiber filament.

Second, all natural fibers dye differently. Silk takes dye the best, Linen usually the worst. And all require a different preparation of your dye bath. Cellulose fibers (Cotton, Linen) require Salt to set colorfastness. You dissolve this in the bath before your fabric goes in, but after the dye is completely dissolved. Protein fibers (silk, wool) require an acid bath typically achieved by adding vinegar to the bath.

It should also be noted that if your pants are wool, they may shrink when you try to dye them.

Color remover... Will it kill your pinstripes? Depends on how the pinstripes are put into the pants. Much like dyeing, if your pants are synthetic, you cannot remove the color. However, if the pinstripe is made with a synthetic, or more stubborn thread,it may not remove like the background. Which I'm sure would be ideal. If the pinstripe is printed on, it won't remove at all as it is essentially paint.

Without color remover, in theory, the dark brown will take less dye than the light tan. Dyes are transparent and are affected by the color underneath them, thus the chocolate brown may take a purple tint, but won't turn purple.

As you can see, there are many variables. Hope this helps. One day I need to post a dyeing 101 for all to read.

Thanks for the tips! I'd definitely be interested in seeing a dyeing 101 someday. Well, now, I did bite the bullet and attempt dyeing these pants of mine. I had no idea if the fabric would take the dye, because there was no tag and I couldn't really tell whether it was synthetic or not.

My result was basically bright purple pinstripes on a brown/gray background. My assumption is that the pinstripes were a kind of thread that's amenable to dyeing and the rest wasn't. There is a barely noticeable purple tint to the whole thing, but it didn't really work out to the level I was hoping.

My next hope is to find pinstriped khakis, because that seems like it'd work a whole lot better, color- and material-wise. As a last-ditch effort I might just try adding stripes myself to a pair of solid purple pants.