How to dye a bra?

[Galatea]

I have a white cotton/lycra bra that I would like to dye a darker color. Can I just get RIT from the grocery store, or do I need something special?

[Ann-Marita]

I've heard that just regular dye works OK. Like RIT, or maybe something you get from Dharma Trading Company.

However, the different parts (especially the elastic) take the dye in different degrees. Some elastics don't take dye at all.

One possible way to correct this is to use a permanent marker on the parts that didn't dye well. Sharpies come in a lot of different colors, and work well.

All this info came from a belly dance costuming workshop I attended some time ago. Personally, I hate RIT and won't use it. I choose the Procion dyes from Dharma.

[Way Up North]

Dylon would be far superior to RIT and readily available. Lycra is a synthetic and will dye differntly than cotton (plus elastic etc.) as pp mentioned so you likely won't get a uniform dye job, but if you don't want to order procion, dylon should do it!

[utopia760]

i used tie dye on my sports bra and LOVE it, it worked well

[ma2maya]

To be clear, if you choose dylon be sure to get the COLD WATER dye not the all-purpose dye as it is the same as RIT pretty much. Dylon's cold water dye is a fiber reactive dye class of dye pretty much the same as procion dyes.

Generally, cotton/lycra blends dye pretty uniformly. The only issue you will have is with the elastic and possibly the stitching. They may dye somewhat or not at all.

Kathy

[Galatea]

So Dylon cold water. From a craft store I guess?

[ma2maya]

Yeah. Hopefully they have it. Last time I was at Joans I only saw the all-purpose dylon
Though if you have a good artist supply store nearby(or a Pearls) they do carry Procion dyes.

Kathy