dyeing sofa covers?

20400keith

I know this thread is a bit ancient but it encouraged me to take the plunge and dye sofa covers.

I bought a Multiyork sofa for £30 delivered. The cover was dirty and very faded in parts. I spent £90 on Dylon machine dye. It was a tight squeeze in the washing machine so to ensure that all the covers got exactly the same amount of dye I soaked everything together in my recycling wheelie bin for an hour, stirring occasionally with a broom handle.

It's been a triumph! Allegedly dry clean only covers have washed successfully, the dye has taken evenly, including covering the faded bits. I put the covers back on whilst still damp and the sofa looks like new.

Slight rubber glove malfunction means that I now have one dark green hand but that's a small price to pay!

socks_uk

I've just won an Ikea sofa bed on ebay for £41 (going to pick it up on Saturday) and it comes with this cream cover...

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10143287/#/00119546

So I decided to google 'dying sofa covers' and found this MSE thread. The Ikea website says it is 3.8kg and I want to dye it dark brown and the machine Dylon dyes are £4.99 and the Dylon 'wash & dye' are £4.47.

Has anyone used the 'wash & dye' rather than the standard 'machine dye' and had good results?

bernieross12

Just dyed it. An absolute triumph ! No faded bits. Colour is perfect. I was nervous about it, and spoke to the Dylon helpline people several times. They told me it was risky with match-resistent covers and didn't recommend it. The label on the sofa said "not match resistent" so I went ahead. In my ordinary machine, in two batches - the machine can't be more than half full. I followed the instructions RELIGIOUSLY. Carefully weighed each item. Weighed the dye powder. No drying in sunlight. No tumble drying. Be patient! I also (and this IS important) made doubly sure that the cotton cycle I was using didn't have a pre-wash stage. Dig out your washing machine manual, find out for sure - BE 100% CERTAIN! A pre-wash will ruin it. End result - my previously white sofa (what an impractical colour!) is now dark green. Top tip - DO wear rubber gloves at ALL stages - not just handling the dye, but even touching the material (even lightly) before it is completely dry. Have saved a fortune on a new cover.

Alchemilla

I dye my ancient sofa covers once a year to make them look smart again. They are cotton and linen and I use maximum two packs of dylon machine dye.
They key is to use 500g salt in each load to fix the dye.

AgathaPoirot

Help About to do my first machine dye ever turning a faded black jacket back to dark black but am not sure about a couple of things.


The packet I have bought has two packets inside, one is the actual dye and the other is the sodium carbonate anhydrous.


At firstI thought the sodium carbonate anhydrous was the salt but it seems to be fixing solution, is this right?


I need to add 500g salt. Is this simply table salt?


bit scared but looking forward to the end result

DSmiffy

Well here's a really stupid question. I'm assuming on here that everyone has covers that come completely off the sofa? I have a cream sofa from Ikea and whilst the cushions that you sit on are removable I don't think the fabric that covers the rest of the sofa is. i didn't even know you could get ones from Ikea with totally removable covers. obviously dying isn't going to work for me as I cant remove the fabric from the chair Doh

booter

AgathaPoirot wrote: »

Help About to do my first machine dye ever turning a faded black jacket back to dark black but am not sure about a couple of things.


The packet I have bought has two packets inside, one is the actual dye and the other is the sodium carbonate anhydrous.


At firstI thought the sodium carbonate anhydrous was the salt but it seems to be fixing solution, is this right?



I need to add 500g salt. Is this simply table salt?


bit scared but looking forward to the end result

I've never used a 2 part dye (only Dylon machine or hand dyes - which work great for me!), but afaik, the sodium carbonate anhydrous is washing soda and is used to soften the water and bond the dye with the fabric. If the instructions tell you to use salt too, then do so. When I've used salt in the past, I've used normal table salt with no problems If you're using a hand dye, make sure the container is big enough, wear an apron and keep it moving, (I've found the results patchy otherwise).

GirlOnBike

Lots of very helpful info here about dyeing idea sofa covers, but if I dye them a dark colour, will the dye come off on light clothes when sitting on the sofa?

MoonJelly

GirlOnBike wrote: »

Lots of very helpful info here about dyeing idea sofa covers, but if I dye them a dark colour, will the dye come off on light clothes when sitting on the sofa?

I would like to know too!

I actually started another thread about re-upholstering my sofa but husband would like to give dyeing a go first (I don't think he trusts me to do the covers).

I have checked inside the sofa cushions and they say "dry clean only" but they are ancient so whatever happens 'happens' :rotfl:
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Gillianconnelly

This might sound stupid but when people say they used multiple packets of dye do they mean all at once or did they have to repeat the process 4 times etc
I assume they put 4 lots of dye in machine at once instead of individually trying to build up the colour?