Need brilliant turquoise dye

[steiconi]

I want to dye a cotton/poly shirt that is currently very pale green, and make it a brilliant turquoise.
I tried Rit teal dye, but it came out more gray than teal.

Rit's website describes Aquamarine as "a color that is a pale bright tint of spring green toned toward cyan."  But the illustration is of bright turquoise blue, just the color I want.  What color is it really? 

Rit is fairly available here, other brands not so much, but I could look if someone can point me in the right direction!!??!!

thanks
Lee

[Abbeeroad]

Dyeing over another color, even a light color, will distort the end color of your project. That's probably why you didn't get the color you wanted (or even close) with the teal on the green.

RIT makes a color remover that I would use before trying to re-dye your garment again. You can also test dye anything similar in color and fiber content to try and get the desired color. RIT is a bit tricky and if you use too much, you saturate the fabric (I've had brown come out looking purple) and the color is way off. Too little and you'll get a lot of fading with washes.

You can get fiber reactive dyes online (try http://www.dharmatrading.com/) but you'll have to think about fixatives such as soda ash.

Best of luck with your adventures in dyeing!

[steiconi]

thanks for your suggestions.  Unfortunately, I don't have time for mail order, that's why I was asking about Rit, which I know is locally available.  Rit used to work a lot better (like, 30 years ago), but I'm guessing some of the ingredients may not have been all that healthy.

C'mon, SOMEBODY must have a turquoise dye to recommend! 

[Abbeeroad]

Tulip also makes a turquoise dye but I can't vouch for it one way or the other. I've found it at Walmart. You can also try RIT again.

You will have to remove any color on your shirt before re-dyeing with any dye. If you want a certain color, you'll have to start with a blank canvas, so to speak.

[steiconi]

Thanks, Abbeeroad, I'll see if they have Tulip dye here.

And just so nobody else tells me I need to color strip the shirt:
it started out bright peacock green.  I dyed it blue to get more toward turquoise, but I used royal blue, which has purple in it, so the color came out dull.  Then I bleached the shirt to remove the blue, and it came out blotchy green, so I continued bleaching until it had lost all the color it's gonna, and was barely pale green, a color that could easily be overdyed to make turquoise.  The teal dye came out too gray, so it'll get bleached again.  Funny thing, the thread and buttons are still the brilliant green they started.

Fortunately, this is for a one-night-only costume, because I don't think all that bleach is doing the poor fibers any good!

[AlenaSelene]

The problem is that polyester and cotton react differently to dye. You'll need a dye that can color polyester, or a fabric paint. Most craft stores like Michaels or the craft section at JoAnns have different kinds of dye.

Rit dye isn't bad. It's an all purpose dye designed to work on as many different kinds of fibers as possible, in a typical home setting. But, it won't dye polyester fibers anything deeper than pastel, and that might be what gave the teal a grayish note.

I have had good luck using Dyna Flow fabric paint on pieces made of mixed fibers. It requires heat to set the color you will have to iron the shirt for a good 15 minutes. If that brand is not available at your local craft shop, ask for a thin fabric paint that flows like a dye, and works on both poly and cotton fibers.

You do NOT want to use a fiber reactive dye, like Procion mx. These dyes do not work at all on poly fibers.

[steiconi]

visited Walmart, the fabric store, and the only craft store yesterday.  They all carry only Rit, and nobody had aquamarine, instead focusing on ecru, gray, black, and several shades of blue.  Maybe there was a little green and yellow available, but I didn't even find red.  Pickings are slim here.  I also looked for turquoise blouses at a couple of stores, but that's a seasonal color and I had no luck.

I ordered some dye from Amazon, said it would be here in 5-9 working days, but turns out it won't even be mailed for a week, and is due to arrive two days before the event.  Sometimes Amazon is early, sometimes late.

I guess I'll go with plan B, a blouse of far inferior style and cut that needs some alterations, but at least it's the right color.  Plan C was a white blouse, and plan D a black one.  I know it's hard to find stuff here, so I make plans accordingly.

[AlenaSelene]

I know what you mean! I love on line shopping!

If you decide to try dying again, check out Dharma Trading Company and ProChem. They carry a wide range of dyes and colors and both sites have great tutorials.

[steiconi]

soooooo  the dye arrived on time, the old color stripped out well, new color went in great, the shirt was perfect!

Unfortunately, I wound up in the hospital and didn't get to go to the event!
I'm out now and doing better, but I mean, REALLY!

If the bleach doesn't destroy the shirt in the next 12 months (a possibility), I can wear it to next year's event.

[AlenaSelene]

So sorry to hear you were in the hospital, but I'm glad the shirt worked out for you in the end!