hi guys, this is the only section of the foum where i thought this post would belong, if it is in the wrong place i appologize. this may be a stupid question but please bare with me.
i have this shirt which i couldnt resist buying because of the print, but i never wear it because im personally sick of pink shirts. is there a way i can change the color by dying it or something? what are my options?
this is the only section of the foum where i thought this post would belong
(just as an aside, I moved this post for you: dye sublimation is a printing technique, it doesn't refer to garment dyeing)
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Originally Posted by hemipwr
is there a way i can change the color by dying it or something?
You can, although there are a couple of potential problems. The first is that dyeing generally shrinks the garment. It's possible that this garment has now shrunk as much as it's going to, but it's possible that dyeing it could shrink it that much more
Depending on what technique the shirt was printed with, it may not like being put in a dye bath. How does the print feel on the shirt? Can you feel the ink, or is it just soft and part of the shirt?
Obviously the other factor is colour: if you dye the shirt too dark you'll lose the contrast and the print won't be visible. But if you just want to darken it up a bit, you might end up with a shirt colour you like and a low contrast (but still visible) print. If you don't wear it anyway, it's worth a shot.
solmu, thank you for the reply. the print can barely be felt, it feels like it's part of the shirt.
the only reason i thought of dying it is that a white shirt of mine came out of the wash blue not long ago thanks to a wife beater singlet that was thrown in with it and it now it looks better han ever, so i thought maybe i could do somthing with this one.
solmu, thank you for the reply. the print can barely be felt, it feels like it's part of the shirt.
Thought that might be the case; there's a decent chance it was printed with waterbased (rather than plastisol) inks. I don't know for sure if it would make a difference, but I'm inclined to think waterbased are more likely to be resilient to over-dyeing.
I'd look into getting some procion dyes and giving it a shot. I can't guarantee it won't ruin the shirt () but if I was in your situation I'd give it a shot.
so once i get the dye, how do i go about doing it?
There'll be instructions with the dye, or you could ask where you buy it from, or find instructions pretty easily on the net. There's not a lot to it other than having the right materials and adding them in the right order. You can either use a cold water dye, or (preferably) a hot water: a hot water dye can be done with an old pot on the stove.
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Originally Posted by hemipwr
also what would work as far as colors?
Yeah, I have been thinking about that. I don't think you're going to have a lot of options. You've got the base pink to deal with, so it can't change too drastically, and if you go too dark the print won't be visible. Red would probably be the easiest, purple should work. You might be able to get a near-blue (likely to be at least a bit purple). Brown is probably an option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hemipwr
the other thing i was thinking was to bleach it or something and make it white? would this work?
I haven't tested what bleach would do to a print like that (really should test it actually...), but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't end well.
i'd most likely go for red, purple or blue. which color do you think would have more of a chance of turning out good and which color would the print be most visible on?
also i might add that the print has a white dragon on it also which you can't see in the photo 1st photo. i've attatched a pic of it.
would this white part of the print affect any color change?
i'd most likely go for red, purple or blue. which color do you think would have more of a chance of turning out good and which color would the print be most visible on?
I think red and purple would be easiest, and red would have the greatest chance of a still visible print.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hemipwr
also i might add that the print has a white dragon on it also which you can't see in the photo 1st photo. i've attatched a pic of it.
would this white part of the print affect any color change?
Hadn't noticed that - it might. I have some test prints I've been wash testing for a while now, and on some load or other they were thrown in with some new black clothes. As happens they've taken on some of the dye, and are now an unpleasant grey (rather than natural unbleached cotton). Some of the print colours seem to have changed a bit also - it's hard to tell if they've taken on the dye or just look different because the fabric colour has changed though.
Anyway... the short answer is, 1) I don't know, 2) The white print may well be affected
Color Change 
