Like may other black wearing fashionistas, I've found that my black cotton clothing fades, no matter how carefully I wash and dry it.

In the past I have redyed clothing with RIT (black with a little purple added to get rid of the brown tones), but I really find RIT to be low quality. After a few washings, the clothing is faded again (yup, I used salt to set it).

Does anyone have success with this? I've been looking at the Dharma site (http://www.dharmatrading.com/) and I've been trying to figure out if any of their products would work for me. This one, http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1765-AA.shtml, mentions being used to overdye black clothing, but I was wondering if anyone has used it.

Basically, I have tons of black tshirts that are in perfectly fine shape, they are just faded and sad looking, and damn if I'm going to buy a whole new round of shirts!

<bump for ya>

i bought some black procion dye from dharma a while back, so that i could overdye some of my clothing. i haven't done it yet, but i will be doing it soon. however, i HAVE used procion dyes before, in the colors. they come out almost exactly as they appear in the swatch, if you are using white fabric to start off with. you must make sure you follow the directions and buy all the other chemicals to go with it (they can also be purchased from dharma), and it *should* work great. btw, MAKE SURE you get the stuff to get the dye off your skin, and wear gloves and crappy clothing when you do the dying. i'm so not kidding. i thought my hands were going to be permanently blue about a year ago from a dying session. scaryness.

i've always thought it would be cool to overdye or try to tie dye other lighter colored fabrics, that aren't black, like jeans or printed stuff, just to see how it comes out...so i'm doing that with green and red dye that i picked up.

experiment! the dharma stuff is reasonably priced. but i seriously don't think black will be a problem, knowing the quality of dharma's dyes.

good luck!
-tricia

I don't have any experience with overdying, but I can definitely vouch for dharma trading as a great company!

If you are dying 100% cotton clothes (or other natural fibers), I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

ditto for dharma! i worked for a clothing designer for years and we would use dharma in the domestic washing machine at the shop when we misjudged the loads we sent to the professional dye company!

i have a question, what is all the other chemicals you have to buy??
is all this stuff really pricey???
thanks!!!

kazoo -

i used to love RIT dye, probably because it was the only one on the market * in drug stores and such* but lately, i find that it does fade really fast...dissapointing

Procion dyes rock!!! One warning is that the procion blacks are never a true a black. But unless you are mixing to get a specific result it should be a-ok. Here are a few things you want to be aware of when using them.... measure/pour out your dye with a dust mask on. The dyes are really caustic in the powder form and you do not want to breathe it in. Once they are mixed with a liquid you are fine...but please wear gloves unless you want black hands for awhile. also put a plastic tarp down...the powder does spread even if you are trying to be careful not to miss your container.

You will want to have a bottle of soda ash to soak your fabric in before you put the fabric in the dye solution. After you let the item set for more than 4 hours ( overnight is best) you will need to rinse it out like mad until the water runs clear. Then you have to wash it in a machine with some Retain or Synthrapol. I here from some professionals that Retain works better...they both are reasonable cheap, so what ever you decide.

Procion colors are fantastic I have been using them for over a year with fat quarters and making custom colors in glad bags. I have a huge stash of custom mixed colors that one day will be used in a quilt. I also recommend the book "dyeing to Quilt" if you are interested in this particular use for the dyes. But the book offers alot of color recipes and is interesting.

This spring when I can work on my back patio, I plan on getting alot of Rayon yardage and making custom yardage for some scarves I produce.

I think procions are awesome good luck to you all!!