Dyeing loose covers

recovering_spendaholic

For ages I have needed a new suite in my living room, and I have finally got some money to start having a look around. I want a loose cover fabric sofa and the best value one which I like (I don't want anything flash or showy) is the Ikea Ektorp. It is a sturdy sofa and at the moment a three seat sofa including white loose covers is £275, with the chairs at £175 each, also including covers.

Obviously white covers would be crazy but they are 100% cotton and it occurred to me that I could dye them in a nice aubergine or similar colour, using wash n dye. Do you think it would work?

I reckon that way I could get a brand new suite (a first!) of sofa, two chairs and a storage footstool for £700, and the frame has a 10 year guarantee.

I have dyed clothes before but never done anything like this!

stampede

I doubt you'd get them a level shade, never mind the same colour for each panel. I can imagine trying to get the seams penetrated would be a nightmare. You'd more than likely ruin it, never mind spend a fortune on that dylon rubbish.

You'd need to do it in a proper machine rather than poke it with a stick every so often.

lessonlearned

I have successfully dyed sofa covers. They were bright yellow and I did them in a deep terracotta.

If you follow instructions and take care to split the loads it should be fine.

I had a three seater sofa and a two seater, so that was a loose undercover for each sofa, plus four cushion covers to each sofa. I did four separate washes, one backing cover per wash and then four cushion covers per wash.

I used Dylon.

I had no problems, the colour came out evenly and washed well.

I had young children at that time and the covers were washed regularly.

stampede

The variables you need to consider when dyeing cotton

weight of fabric - to calculate amount of dye to use
Liquor Ratio - e.g if you have 1kg of fabric - you will probably need 20litres of water.
Electrolyte - this is Salt - you need to calculate the amount accurately depending on the amount of water used - e.g. 60g per litre (amount will depend on type of dyestuff.
pH
temperature of water
hardness of water (the softer the water, the better)

These are a few basic things that will affect shade, & if you are dyeing in batches then you need to ensure that you adhere to the same parameters of the first batch you processed.

Most of these home dyeing kits are from a colder type of dyestuff (e.g. not dyed over 80'C - usually closer to 40'C) Colder types of dyestuff tend not to penetrate seams as well & are much more likely to be patchy.

If you search the internet for small lot dyeing then you may find someone professional that will do the job probably at not much more than the cost of purchasing the home dye kit.
They'd be able to dye all your covers in one go, so at least it would be all the same shade.

It all depends on your expectations & what you'd be happy with.

maman

I've had an Ikea sofa with white covers in my conservatory for more than 15 years and it still looks great. Admittedly I don't have animals and only visiting children but the covers wash beautifully and I don't do them very often (1-2 times a year).


I have cream sofas in my sitting room (not Ikea but with loose covers) and they're even older but wash up well.


So, if you like white/cream they're not as bad as you might think. But I thought they did the covers in a range of colours anyway?