Dye for chair covers?

Kimberley

I have 6 dining room chairs. They are ivory in colour and i have 3 children. The covers are also dry clean only and i get charged £21 to have all 6 cleaned. Where the covers are nearly white and get dirty quick by the kids, it is costing me loads to get them cleaned regular. I'm thinking of getting them dyed a dark colour to hide stains so that i can decrease the amount of times i fork out the £21. I need the dye to be non run

Any tips would be welcomed :beer:

divadee

would it be easier to re-upholster the chairs with new fabric? just then push out the seat part and then attach the new fabric with a staple gun?

or are they fully upholstered chairs?

Kimberley

No you can put new covers on, but i don't know how to do it and i havn't a staple gun

divadee

are you any good at sewing? unlike me


if so you could make some slip covers for the chairs in a washable material and just slip them over the chairs or you can buy slipcovers all over these days if like me you cant sew. at least that would save you money in the long run not having to have them dry cleaned.

Kimberley

Very good idea, i'll have to scan material shops to find a nice pattern I guess i can copy one of my existing covers I didn't think of that ..

divadee

glad you liked the idea, at least this way when the kids drop food and stuff on them you can just bung them in the washing machine. a whole lot cheaper than the dry cleaners.

Kimberley

Yep, although i'd have to get the existing ones cleaned just before i put the washable ones on though, as they do need cleaning now. There is loads of tomato sauce stains on them and i only had them cleaned last week...:?

Paul_the_Painter

There is an electric staple gun for about £20 in Argos, works really well made by Rapesco (sp?). I've just done our dining chairs in black and white ticking @£4 per metre, it gets dirty, and is not of a quality to stand hard wear, but I replace it every 6-12 months

Also I used to work in the fabrics industry, and a lot of fabrics are marked as Dry Clean Only, simply because they haven't been tested, for small runs of fabric it is often not practical to test it for washability. Imagine you are importing 100 metres of fabric for 400 dining room chairs, fabric cost (ex factory) is about £5 per metre so £500 for the lot, it would cost at least £250 - £500 to get the fabric tested, doubling the price. If something looks like it will will wash (ie, not shiny/moire/velvet) it probably will.

Kimberley

So i should wash them in the washing machine to see? I could do if i'm planning to cover them anyway, ok i'll give it a go

Paul_the_Painter

If your going to recover them anyway, give it a go, you've got nothing to lose! Put them back on when they are slightly damp, as long as there is not a special finish on them(moire/velvet etc.) I can't see it causing a problem, I've washed loads of stuff that is DCO.

Kimberley

Washed them and they were fine all this time i've wasted £21 a time getting them dry cleaned. I'm still going to get a darker colour material to make into covers though otherwise i'll be washing these ones every other day