Anybody ever dye white breeches??

[Eventer55]

So, anyone ever dye white breeches and how did it work out? I dyed a pair of Fitts and it worked except that the stitching stayed white, not attractive for the crothch area which is still white stitching. . .


I dyed them because they became permanently streaked by a major rain and dirt attack at an event.

[Mags]

I did. They're on course side zips. The stitching didn't take the dye, I went for navy blue and got a french blue. (like Tailored Sportsman) I can tell they're already fading but I like them for schooling.

[TheHorseProblem]

How did the knee patches fare? I have some dirt-stained full seats I hate to just toss. The way my horse tossed me!

[roki143]

I did a pair of white full seats. Went for a nice tan color, which I kinda got but they tended to be more yellow than tan. The leather on the full seats though it several shads darker then the rest of the breech, which I think looks kind of cool!

[jnel]

I dyed a pair of very light cream Harry Halls brown. The color is fading so I might try dyeing them black. The full seat changed to a different shade of brown than the britches material but doesn't look bad. All the stains and spots that really showed when they were cream colored pretty much disappeared after I dyed them, so its all good.

[Guin]

Most thread is nylon and won't take the dye; that's why you end up with contrasting stitching.

[Eventer55]

I dyed them dark blue and the color is fine, but the stitching as I said is not taking the dye. And the stitching runs up from the crotch, not attractive and a little bizarre looking. Is there any way to dye the stitching?

[FancyFree]

Is there any way to dye the stitching?

No unfortunately. As Guin wrote, most threads are made with nylon. You'd have to rip out the old stitching and sew it back together with thread of the dyed color. I learned this the hard way. :(

[ESG]

Depends a lot on the breech fabric. Cotton blends dye less well than nylon/poly blends.

And, FWIW, I've never had trouble with the stitching not dyeing to match the rest of the fabric, but I've always dyed breeches that are mostly nylon.

You can always try overdyeing with a darker color, in hopes that the stitching might take. A midnight blue or black might make that nylon stitching absorb it.

Which method did you use? I always use the stove top method, rather than the washing machine - colors much better. And always use twice as much dye as the package directs. :yes:

[Eventer55]

I used the stove method and 2 packs of midnight blue. the stitching is still white.

[ESG]

Wow. Stubborn stitching.

Enjoy your contrast stitched breeches. ;)

[Eventer55]

Wow. Stubborn stitching.

Enjoy your contrast stitched breeches. ;)

:lol::lol::lol::lol: Unfortunately the stitching goes from South to North in the crotch area and it looks like Frankenstein, so unless a miracle happens I won't even use them for schooling. Did I mention they are FITTS which stands for Freakin' Incredibly Too Too Spensive.

[ESG]

Hey, when you're in the saddle, no one's going to see the stitching, anyway. ;)

I've never heard of Fitts breeches before. Are they nice? (other than the color, of course :lol: )

[goodhors]

I used the stove method and 2 packs of midnight blue. the stitching is still white.

Tell everyone dyed pair has the "new look" of jeans! No one thinks anything of jeans having contrasting stitching. If you ACT like the breeches are cool, hold your head up, other folks will believe you!!
Might even ask where to get a pair like them!

[Towerkeeper 2]

Hi,

From a costuming person, who does a lot of dyeing of new and used clothing.

To cover stitching that does not take color after you dye garments; get a sharpie pen, the finer the point the better, and carefully color in the threads. If you can not match the color exactly use a slightly darker shade. You should use sharpie pens as they are color proof and will not run.

Also Dylon dye, which you usually can get at fabric and craft stores is a better dye and will give you a better coverage. For darker colors you will need to use at lest twice the amount of dye the companies recommend.


Good Luck

[Dancing Lawn]

my mom did, once.

she put my lovely white full seat Harry Halls in the wash with a pair of red socks.


they came out tie-died pepto-bismal pink. I never wore them again. even bleach several times over never got them right again.

[Equibrit]

The more natural fibre that you have in a cloth the better result you will get. A natural fibre will absorb the pigment in a dye and a man made fibre will not. Man made fabric is woven with coloured yarn.

[merrygoround]

A friend bought a very expensive pair of men's white full seats, that were knocked down to 1/2 price, and had them professionally dyed. they came out a respectable rosy grey.

[kdow]

The thing you have to take into consideration isn't just the amount of dye, but the TYPE of dye you're using. Different fibers (cotton, nylon, wool, leather, etc.) need different types of dye in order to really take the color properly. That's why you get stitching (or other parts) that doesn't dye, while the fabric does - different materials.

There ARE dyes out there intended to dye various materials, though - some of them are actually a combination of a couple of types of dye, so that you're basically dying the different fibers at the same time. You have to read the label on your item to find out what the fabric is (and assume the stitching is nylon/polyester, likewise any plastic zips) and then read the dye packets to make sure you're getting something that will dye everything in the garment.

(Depending on where you live, this may mean mail ordering - generally craft stores will have some selection of dyes, but it does seem to vary. The RIT sold in some supermarkets probably will not do a great job dying anything other than cotton - and even then I've seen a lot of problems with fading.)

If you want some professional advice, the Dharma Trading Company gets recommended quite frequently on a crafty forum I'm on as being super helpful with figuring out what you need to buy - they can be a little intimidating if you just go to the website, though, as they generally sell to people who have some experience with textile arts and don't just want to buy something prepackaged.

(I am not affiliated with the company in any way, except I think I requested a catalog once. I just know a lot of people recommend them.)

[Romany]

Hi,

From a costuming person, who does a lot of dyeing of new and used clothing.

To cover stitching that does not take color after you dye garments; get a sharpie pen, the finer the point the better, and carefully color in the threads. If you can not match the color exactly use a slightly darker shade. You should use sharpie pens as they are color proof and will not run.

Also Dylon dye, which you usually can get at fabric and craft stores is a better dye and will give you a better coverage. For darker colors you will need to use at lest twice the amount of dye the companies recommend.


Good Luck


Great idea on the Sharpie pen!

And I second the Dylon dye - they do hot-water and cold-water dyes in a huge selection of colous; cold water dye being better for real leather/deerskin, eg Equissentials.

I used Dylon cold to dye Equissentials with great success.

[Curiously]

Will dye even out the color/staining on deerskin? I have a pair of Equissentials full-seats that are starting to look a bit worse for the wear. :(

If you dye something in the washing machine, how do you get all the dye OUT of the machine so that it won't affect your next load of laundry? Is running one wash cycle through an empty machine enough to clear it out? The thought that leftover dye might ruin the next load of laundry has always made hesitate to try dyeing anything.

[kdow]

Will dye even out the color/staining on deerskin? I have a pair of Equissentials full-seats that are starting to look a bit worse for the wear. :(

If you dye something in the washing machine, how do you get all the dye OUT of the machine so that it won't affect your next load of laundry? Is running one wash cycle through an empty machine enough to clear it out? The thought that leftover dye might ruin the next load of laundry has always made hesitate to try dyeing anything.

If it's JUST the deerskin you want to dye, and not the breeches themselves, I'd probably look into proper leather dye rather than hoping a fabric dye would do the trick. (Like I said, different things need different types of dyes and also different types of 'fixatives' to make sure the color stays - the more specific you can get, generally the better the results.) Then just apply it only to the deerskin itself. Probably I'd go a shade darker than the whole thing currently is, rather than trying to just fill in the worn/discolored spots.

As far as washing machines - I've used the washing machine several times to do various items, and I've never had any problems with dye remaining in the machine after finishing the dye process (normally you put the dyed item through a wash cycle of some type to get all the excess dye out of it anyway) and then doing an empty cycle with hot water, a little bit of detergent, and about a cup of vinegar.

If you're really worried about it, pick up one of those dye catcher things (or the packet of the ones you throw away after a load) at the supermarket - they're normally in the same place as the stain treatments and so on. Then throw a couple of those in with the next load or two. (They're basically designed to be super-attracting to dyes, so any dye that gets into the wash water goes and sticks to the dye catcher instead of to something else in the load.)

[lilblackhorse]

LOL--yep, been there done that. Cotton stretch white breeches, bought the navy blue RIT dye. Ended up with the contrasting stitching as well (glad I am not the only one with this brilliant idea).....got more the faded denim color, and finally just said screw it and bought dye remover and made them white again. Then got too fat to fit in 26's...then the horse broke, so it's a moot point anyway.

[Romany]

Will dye even out the color/staining on deerskin? I have a pair of Equissentials full-seats that are starting to look a bit worse for the wear. :(

If you dye something in the washing machine, how do you get all the dye OUT of the machine so that it won't affect your next load of laundry? Is running one wash cycle through an empty machine enough to clear it out? The thought that leftover dye might ruin the next load of laundry has always made hesitate to try dyeing anything.


Speak to Equissentials first; they might have some ideas, and they'll certainly fix your breeches for you!

[Eventer55]

LOL--yep, been there done that. Cotton stretch white breeches, bought the navy blue RIT dye. Ended up with the contrasting stitching as well (glad I am not the only one with this brilliant idea).....got more the faded denim color, and finally just said screw it and bought dye remover and made them white again. Then got too fat to fit in 26's...then the horse broke, so it's a moot point anyway.

:lol::lol::lol: Been there and now on the way back with horse, but still not into my26s. . . Ain't gonna happen at this point.

[ESG]

Speak to Equissentials first; they might have some ideas, and they'll certainly fix your breeches for you!

Quite right. Equissentials will replace the deerskin for you, if the breeches are still in good enough shape. I'd be contacting them for options before I tried dyeing leather. It's not easy, and the leather is almost always ruined. :no:

[Curiously]

bought dye remover and made them white again.

White breeches, dyed navy blue, and bleached back to white again? How well did that work? Did they look like a dingy white or were they reasonably clean white? Hard to believe that you could really get a dark color completely out that well. :eek:

My Equissentials are worn, the fabric has faded, and the leather has gotten darker, with uneven coloring due to scratches and stretching. :( They're a couple of years old by now, with moderate use. But they were expensive enough to begin with, I really don't want to add in MORE money in shipping costs and replacing the leather (even if it's cheaper than a new pair) just for the sake of looks. They're still very wearable and very comfy -- it would be nice if they looked a bit better, but, I'm not putting any more cash into them. And I wouldn't trade them for a less-comfy, non-deerskin pair that *looked* better for the same amount of wear, I think part of it is just natural wear on the leather. :sigh: Ah well....

[ESG]

Then your post should have read something like, "I'm just having a whinge about how my breeches are aging - I don't really want to put any more money into them." :p