dyeing sofa covers?

CelticLion

Just for info for anyone thinking of dyeing a sofa. Our sofas are 'dry clean only' but we did manage to dye it after a quick test with a bit of fabric. All the cushions dyed perfectly first time but our sofa cover came out a bit of a mess as it was too big to be done in a normal washing machine and was very patchy which is what I was afraid of.

We did the other larger sofa cover in the large washing machine at the laundrette and it worked great apart from coming out a lot lighter. We figured this was due to the larger amount of water in the big machines so we're going to dye it again to hopefully get closer to the same colour as the cushions. We tried to dye the first one again in the laundrette but it didn't work at all so we're going to try and use a pre-dye to take the colour out and try it again.

Bottom line is that if your going to try dyeing a sofa, ask at your local laundrette as you can do the whole sofa (cover plus cushion covers) at the one time in the one machine which means you'll get them all the same shade. I didn't think they'd allow you to do it but our local one said it was no problem as long as we paid for an 'empty' wash after it. Wish I'd asked them first before starting

Hope this helps.

Charlie

sbrose

This is such a brilliant idea, I'm so pleased I came across this thread. I'm having to get some 2nd hand sofas and this will give them a new lease of life!!
Couple of questions, do you think the colour you start with effects the colour you end up with? Ie if I start with one cream sofa and one blue sofa will they be different shades?
Also, the cream sofa is sort of two tone with a damask pattern, do you reckon that'll be lost or will the different fibres take differently?!!
thanks for any advice you can give, tbh the blue one couldn't look any worse than it does!!! Maybe just have one cream and one purple?!!

Oh and while I have you experts, is dylon the only make of dye? I wanted a teal colour but they don't seem to have anything close!

thank you muchly!! xx

cezerpringle

Bump!
Hi, Anyone know offhand how many packs I'd need to do a klippan?
Problem is Dylon have changed their dyes and I really want a dark coffee/light chocolate but the closest I can find is their woodland brown (the terracotta looks too orange).
what's the likelyhood of it going patchy?
Dylon say that it will go lighter if I use less dye and I do want it lighter than the dye colour but I don't want it patchy!

I would weigh the cover but it's in the washing machine right now so it's wet!

Anyone have experience of the new dylon dyes?
all I want is to avoid the sofa continually going grey! (bloomin cream covers).

Thanks
Ceri

jw2003

I came across this googling 'dyeing sofa covers' - I have used Dylon a few times for clothes and their new dyes are pretty good. I am going to dye my light green sofa but it needs a wash first. I am fed up of it looking grubby within seconds of being cleaned. I have a 3 seater and 4 seater so my plan is to weight the largest bit of fabric first and make up all the other loads to match. My only question, for all those who have been successful, is how many packs of Dylon did you use per load? I was thinking of 2 per load to get a strong colour...

smunden1

Its brilliant to find this thread. I have just redecorated my lounge and the sofa is looking pretty tatty so was thinking of dyeing the covers.
BUT, the big cover will not fit in the washing machine at home so i will have to head to a launderette.

I have looked on the dylon site and it doesnt really give info on how many packets you need. The covers weigh about 13 kg altogether (ouch) can anyone help?? ~~Thanks:j

Rosamundi

voucher_woman wrote: »

hi have tried to dye my sofa covers from gold to dark brown but because they are polyester then they didnt dye. Though i did try and it looked hopeful till the last rinse!! :mad: !!
I have looked into sending them away to have them professionally dyed but this costs as much as having new covers made! :eek:
anyone got any other suggestions???

I know this is some time on but http://www.jacquardproducts.com/products/dyes/idye/index.php have polyester machine dye

Rosamundi

smunden1 wrote: »

Its brilliant to find this thread.
I have looked on the dylon site and it doesnt really give info on how many packets you need. The covers weigh about 13 kg altogether (ouch) can anyone help?? ~~Thanks:j

FABRIC AMOUNT
• One pack will dye up to 600g of fabric (e.g. jeans, bath towel, double sheet) to the full shade & up to 1.2kg of fabric (e.g. double duvet) to lighter shade
• Multiple packs will dye larger amounts to full shade, e.g. 2 packs for 1200g (e.g. double duvet) or 4 packs for 2kg (e.g. curtains)

Rosamundi

sbrose wrote: »

Oh and while I have you experts, is dylon the only make of dye? I wanted a teal colour but they don't seem to have anything close! thank you muchly!! xx

Rit have a teal dye
http://www.lainesworld.co.uk/L/product/JCRITPD04.html

Tibbie's_mum

Has anyone used Rit dye in a front loading washing machine successfully? It's so much cheaper than Dylon, I was thinking of giving it a try with my sofa covers.

Alicia148

Hi everyone,
Just to let you know I recently dyed a set of sofa covers by hand. I figured they were too big to put in the washing machine and get an even result.

Firstly I bought two packets of pre-dye and used the washing machine to pre-dye the fabric in two batches. This took the sofa covers from a golden cream, to a very pale yellow.

I weighed the sofa covers (5kg) and worked out I needed 16 sachets of dye for a light - medium result.

Then I bought some dylon hand-dye from ebay - 16 sachets of pebble beige. I cleaned out our rubbish wheelie bin to use as the container. With 16 sachets of dye you need 96 litres of water, so it was the only thing big enough! I then followed the instructions on the dye and properly measured out enough water and salt.

Once all in the wheelie bin I stirred with an old broom pole on and off for an hour to make sure all the dye distributed properly. Then as it says on the packet, I rinsed and washed.

BUT. When I took the fabric out of the dye it looked good. Then I washed it and hung it out to dry on the line. It says dry out of direct heat and sunlight, but being November in the UK I didn't think the sunlight bit would really apply. Now my covers are dry they are a different shade to when they were wet, and not in a good way. Instead of being beige they are a dark peach! So, not sure why this happened. Was it the sunlight? Or was it the fact that I didn't use enough dye? (Remember the covers were already pale yellow).

The good news is the coverage is even. So I'm going to try again, this time dye them grey. If they end up grey, that's fine. If they end up beige/grey that's also fine. Just not too keen on the peach! It is expensive though - each dying round costing about £40. But I can't give up now - I have to make them right!

The moral of the story is, use enough dye to give you a deep colour and take into account the colour of the fabric before you dye it. The dye will add to this colour, not replace it.