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Bleaching Colored Clothing

October 25, 2006

Bleaching Colored ClothingI want to bleach my black dress white. But it is satin and lace. Do you think bleach would work on those materials. How do I even begin with how to bleach it, in the washer. in the tub (someone said) and what kind of bleach? I don't even mind if the dress went grey. Just not sure of where to begin. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Mercedes from SF, CA

Answers

By Grandma Margie (Guest Post)
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I've experimented over the years, doing things like this and my experience is screaming "Don't even try this"!!!!! You are NOT going to get the end result you want..........PLUS you're going to totally ruin (what sounds to me is) a perfectly good dress. This is just my opinion, but I can tell you that doing something like that is NEVER as easy as you assume it will be and the end result will be a total trainwreck!

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 156 Feedbacks
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I agree with Grandma Margie and if you try to bleach the dress you will not be happy with the results. It will probably turn out to be a "dirty gray" color when you are finished, or worse, come out looking like a bad tie-dye attempt.

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If you still are determined to try this, I would call a dry-cleaner and ask them if they have experience in this, or try calling a bridal shop and see if they know of anyone that they could recommend to you.

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October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I'm not really for sure, but if it were mine I'd leave
leave the dress as it is.
You might be disapointed in your end result. It seems that (BLEACHING SATIN) would distroy THE SATIN Fabric. I could eat holes in it.
Hope this helps, Sherry.

 
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By txcatlover (Guest Post)
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I honestly don't think it's possible to get good results with such an extreme color change. Just can't go from black to white.

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By (Guest Post)
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

Sorry - you can't do anything with a black dress - unless you want to apply bleach in a tie dye fashion and make a pattern - but doesn't sound like it will go with a satin/lace dress

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By utahyogini (Guest Post)
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I have to agree with the other posts.

The type of fabric matters when doing a home dye.

Cotton is usally best. Synthenic fabrics are tricker if not impossible to dye.

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Hope this helps.

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By GrammySheila (Guest Post)
October 26, 20060 found this helpful

I dyed a cream colored satin, lace & pearls dress a beautiful burgandy for my sister's wedding and had no problems with holes or anything. The dress was worn by my Granddaughter as the flower girl in my wedding 6 years ago. My sister's wedding was a year after mine. The only thing that didn't actually dye well was the lace part...it was just a bit lighter than the rest of the dress. It was beautiful, though. I used Rit dye on it and what I did was put the dye in the kitchen (stainless steel) sink full of water. I used regular bleach to clean up the sink afterwards.

If I remember correctly, my daughter went from black satin to white one time using Rit color remover on a satin dress...it didn't go white, but rather a really pretty silvery gray.

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I say, if you don't like the dress (for whatever reason) and don't care what other color it will go, why not try it?

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By Claudia-MD (Guest Post)
October 30, 20060 found this helpful

I agree that this would likely be a disaster. Even Rit Dye remover would not get this black dress to any attractive shade and would probably ruin the fabric. I wouldn't waste the time, money or aggrevation on trying this.

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July 14, 20070 found this helpful

If you want to dye it because it's faded then just redye with black RIT. If you want a white one take it to a seamstress and ask for a duplicate white dress.

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Try to bleach it and it's toast.

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July 30, 20090 found this helpful

Agree with all the other comments don't bleach a black dress. That's a nightmare waiting to happen. Unless you want to get creative and do a tie dye look but that also sounds like a nightmare.

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August 11, 20090 found this helpful

Ya, probably not a good idea. You could always buy a new one.
http://www.herblackdress.com

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July 11, 20130 found this helpful

I may be late getting to the party, here, but- I've got 3 dresses bleaching in stages as we speak. I've had black t shirts go to a pleasant cream in the past but it depends on the fab, for sure- one of the dresses I'm working on now is black, polyester/rayon, its down to a dense dark grey (think wool slacks) and beautiful but I'm working to get it lighter.

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That's why I came here. If you fill the tub and add your bleach and be certain to fully submerge and wash about your material, nothing will turn up a 'tie-dyed disaster'. Be brave. Use your head. Do what you do carefully. Good luck.

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July 29, 20130 found this helpful

I have a lace dress. It's black and I would like to dye it red. How do I do it?

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19 More Questions

Ask a QuestionHere are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.

February 28, 2017

I recently ordered a top from eBay. The picture indicated it was a pale, dusky pink, but on arriving it's actually a horrendous fluorescent bubblegum pink. I don't really want to try and return it because last time this happened to me I just got brushed off with "the images look different on different screens" so I was wondering if it would be possible to simply bleach it down to a more acceptable colour.

I know the typical method of leaching dye using a chlorine bleach solution and a bleach neutralising agent, but this top is a 95% viscose/rayon, 5% elastane blend and all the research I have found so far has been incredibly contradictory, suggesting variously that the chlorine bleach method will either damage viscose, turn it brown, or be absolutely fine, and suggests no other alternatives. The only thing I have found at all is a blog post where the writer had dyed a viscose-rayon dress to be pastel pink and received chemical bubble-gum instead, but this only results in a responder repeating the chlorine solution method, claiming that they had used it after having the same issue with a cotton blend dress and that "bleach is not such a terrible thing for rayon", but no word on whether the OP tried it and what happened.

Has anybody got any advice on the matter?
(And that's the last time I order anything pink online - it's always pink I have this problem with.)

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October 13, 2016

For Halloween I need a white dress. I have one that's the perfect style, but it's light purple. Is there any way I can make it white? How? Help! Tks


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January 16, 2017

I'm trying to figure out what color(s) of fabric would turn out gray when bleached? I've had some experience, on purpose and on accident with bleaching, but I'm really looking for gray and hoping someone can help!


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August 10, 2019

So I have a yellow mustard shirt and I want to change it to a different color anything but mustard. What happens if I bleach it? I just want to change to a better color.


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June 2, 2017

I have a 100% viscose romper that is an medium olive green color. I am wondering if it is possible to make it white with bleach?


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May 13, 2019

I have a pink cardigan and I am thinking of bleaching it, but I am not sure what color it would turn out.


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January 11, 2019

I have a white hoodie with black on the sleeves and hood. I washed my hoodie with bleach and the black on it faded to a brown. So how do I repair the black/brown without messing the white up?


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September 20, 2018

I have a black, cotton T-shirt with a red and blue logo printed on it. I would love to change the black to literally any other color. Is this possible, and if so, how?

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April 5, 2015

white shirt with stains and a colored logoI have a white Adidas t-shirt, but the t shirt has a black Adidas logo. Can I bleach it? Or just say it's white and I have a colored logo that is blue or any color can I bleach it?

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January 3, 2015

I have a lace dress that also has mesh on it. I wanted to make a cute tulle skirt to go with it for my bachelorette party and then I realized my tulle is a bit whiter than my dress. So I want to make my dress white rather than cream. Any suggestions?

By Megan

Answers


Bronze Answer Medal for All Time! 220 Answers
January 3, 20150 found this helpful

A dry cleaner firm may be able to match your whites, however, may be difficult even then.

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October 20, 2016

Is it possible to bleach a pink and orange polyester dress?


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October 1, 2014

I dyed white cotton shirts a pale green. How do I get them back to pure white?

By Sue F.

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 162 Posts
October 2, 20140 found this helpful

What product did you use to dye the shirts?

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October 23, 2016

I have an 80% acrylic sweater that is a light yellow color, but I want to make the sweater white. Would using bleach work or is it going to make the sweater worse?

Because I'm afraid it may have patches of different shadings, ruining the sweater.

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