Dying fabric a bright shade

Zinger · Jul 7, 2017

Is it possible to dye fabric a brighter color? Is it practical?

My costume includes a pair of cargo pants. The pair the hero wears in the comic book are noticeable brighter than any available IRL.

My pair aren't too off, but they still bug me. If it's possible to make them closer to the reference, I'd like to.

Google wasn't encouraging. Lot's of dye remover and guess work. If I'm crazy you can tell me.

PropReplicator2 · Jul 7, 2017

Not crazy it's possible. You can pick up bright green dyes from Amazon. Don't get them at Walmart (trust me I've tried).

Just make sure to remove all of the color and finish from the cargo pants with rit dye remover first and then wash them with a whitening powder. Dying them should be easy enough

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Zinger · Jul 8, 2017

PropReplicator2 said:
Not crazy it's possible. You can pick up bright green dyes from Amazon. Don't get them at Walmart (trust me I've tried).

Just make sure to remove all of the color and finish from the cargo pants with rit dye remover first and then wash them with a whitening powder. Dying them should be easy enough

Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the advice. I'll give this a try after I've finished the second attempt at the bat.

JohnnyMarvel · Jul 9, 2017

I wouldn't worry about a dye remover for colours that close. You usually only need it if you're going a lot lighter.

What I would recommend for more intense colours are heat dyes.
You put the dye in boiling water and simmer the clothes.
I use a cheap metal pot exclusively for it as I dye a lot and you will not be able to use that pot again for food.
I've had good results with iDye (the cargo pants look cotton so just get the straight iDye, iDye Poly is meant for polyester and other synthetics) and Tintex (though US Tintex looks different than OZ Tintex so I haven't tried it).

You'll probably want a Kelly Green colour as that tends to be a bright green.

Zinger · Jul 10, 2017

JohnnyMarvel said:
I wouldn't worry about a dye remover for colours that close. You usually only need it if you're going a lot lighter.

What I would recommend for more intense colours are heat dyes.
You put the dye in boiling water and simmer the clothes.
I use a cheap metal pot exclusively for it as I dye a lot and you will not be able to use that pot again for food.
I've had good results with iDye (the cargo pants look cotton so just get the straight iDye, iDye Poly is meant for polyester and other synthetics) and Tintex (though US Tintex looks different than OZ Tintex so I haven't tried it).

You'll probably want a Kelly Green colour as that tends to be a bright green.

I've used iDye Poly for faceplates. They're Kelly Green looks pretty close to what I need.

If it doesn't work, can I just use dye remove to start from scratch?

JohnnyMarvel · Jul 10, 2017

Zinger said:
I've used iDye Poly for faceplates. They're Kelly Green looks pretty close to what I need.

If it doesn't work, can I just use dye remove to start from scratch?

Yep. Make sure you let it dry fully first though to check the final colour as they look way darker wet. If I'm close I'll usually just dye over the results using a smaller amount of dye of another colour to push it in the right direction.

If their Kelly Green is close maybe a mix of Kelly Green and Chartreuse (green-yellow) might be the perfect combo.

Dying fabric a bright shade

Zinger

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PropReplicator2

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Zinger

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JohnnyMarvel

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Zinger

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JohnnyMarvel

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