Anyone ever dyed clothes that were sun faded?

[Jshack]

Hi Everyone,

This may be an old quesiton, but I am new on the forum so I was hoping for some guidance. I recently picked up a Peter Burke in decent condition, the only down side is that his brown shirt was sun faded, in spots, to an ape green. It is actually kind of cool as the holes in his vest created dots on the shirt underneath. Front of the shirt is greenish but the back is brown for a kind of tye dyed look.

So, my question, has anyone had any luck dyeing shirts back to thier original color? Should I even bother? Not going to resale.

Thanks for any advice.
Jason

[PNGwynne]

Brown Rit dye, stove-top method, should easily change the shirt back to a uniform color. Hand-wash the shirt first & rinse well.

Rit is available at Wal-Mart & other discount, dry-goods, & craft stores.

[PoorMansJB]

If the base color is uneven, dying won't result in a solid look, even with black.

Your best bet is to bleach the piece first. I know a number of customizers will say never use bleach, period; however, depending on the weight of the fabric and the original color, I've had no problem with highly diluted chlorine bleach left to stand for awhile.

Otherwise, RIT also make a color remover/whitener. But, again, while this is safer, I've had it have no effect at all on certain fabrics.

Be aware, too, that while you can remove color from the body of a garment, very often they're sewn with polyester threads which will retain their color no matter what. Mostly a problem when you've made a big color change and now find yourself with dramatically contrasting stitching.

[Jshack]

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know how it works out.