After that you will need to rinse the garment with warm water, followed by another wash cycle, before it is ready to be dried. Natural dyes The first thing is you need to know the type of fabric that you’re working with. This is because 100% polyester and polyester blend need to be treated differently when dyeing. You should only use disperse dye if the blend has more than 35% synthetic fibers. You probably learned something about color mixing in school – red and blue make purple, yellow and blue make green, and the difference between primary and secondary colors. Dyes, like paints, are composed of pigments, and overdyeing is essentially just mixing pigments, the same way you’d mix paint.

Keep in mind that acrylic paint is not designed to be washed excessively, which is why we only recommend this option if you want to paint a decorative piece on polyester fabric. Before you start, be sure to follow these basic tips for removing a dye stain, regardless of your clothing’s fabric. You’ll find specific instructions for treating different types of clothes listed later on in this article.

How to choose the right dye color when overdyeing:

It’s easy enough to understand that a red shirt in a blue dye bath will result in a purple shirt, but what happens if you’re not starting with a primary color, or when there’s not a clear mix available? Unfortunately, there’s no magical overdye color that will help you turn a pair of dark brown pants neon yellow. In general, overdyeing only allows you to go darker, not lighter, and you’re always going to be limited by the color of the garment or fabric you’re starting with. If you’re set on a lighter color, you can always pre-treat your fabric or garment with bleach to lighten it, but do keep in mind that bleach can damage fabric in large quantities so always test a swatch first! For some colors, you will have to do a little bit of color mixing before achieving your desired result. But you can totally experiment and have fun with this process to achieve a brand new look for your fabric! This process usually involves disperse dyes that need to be activated using heat. Manufacturers have special machinery that can dye polyester using a colorant mixture that can be heated up to 280℉. Rebecca Van Amber, a textile scientist at RMIT University, recommends Rit Dye for at-home projects. Photograph: Rit Dye

Now you have some easy-to-follow tips for how to get colour run out of clothes (and how to stop the colour bleeding from clothes in the first place), you won't have to spend the next month in baby-pink shirts. Read other articles from the Clothing Care category Prepare your dye solution by first filling up your pot with water, about 3/4 of the pot, or until the water is enough for the fabric to be totally submerged. Then, pour 1 teaspoon of dish soap into the water. This will help reduce the surface tension of the liquid and allow the dye to penetrate the fabric. If you want to dye polyester at home, you totally can, but keep in mind that there are a few things you need to consider to successfully do so. When painting, pastel colors are created when you mix a color with white paint. For example, pastel pink is made from red mixed with a lot of white; pastel green is green mixed with white, etc. If your load of whites is now pink, it’s important to follow these steps for the best chance of restoring your clothes to their previous whiteness. Do this before you tumble-dry any of your load, as heat will only further set the colour-bleeding.

How to overdye fabric:

Pink – treat pink the same way you would treat red, but keep in mind that lighter shades will require less dye to mix with them so you’ll likely need less dye than you would if you started with a darker red. Iron is an effective mordant but will darken the end result with a brownish tint. Use iron for earth tone results. To create an iron bath, boil a few old nails in a large pot of water.