Anyone have any input about dying a grey coat?

[CDNSushi]

I've been eyeing a light grey coat. It's 50% wool, 50% polyester. Sure, it's lovely the way it is, but I was thinking to myself: Self, wouldn't it be cool to have something a little less off-the-rack? So I got to thinking, I wonder if I could dye it a different colour.




Being that it's kind of a light grey, anything I throw at it would likely come out muted or darker, right? For example, if I used a cobalt blue, I suspect I might end up with something that's almost a navy blue... And if I were to use a bright green, I'm thinking I might end up with something like an olive green perhaps. What if I were to use something a little wilder... Like pink? Would I maybe end up with something like this...ish?

Or what would a red or orange dye yield?

Any idea what different color combinations I might get? Is there a chart or something that might give some idea?

Has anyone every tried anything like this? If so, what were your results like?

[Chas]

In my experience the polyester will not take up the dye, only the wool will.

[madmacs]

In my experience the polyester will not take up the dye, only the wool will.

I think with polyester you need a different dye which needs hot water to make it work properly... Hot water probably isn't the wools best friend, though I believe that I read somewhere that it's agitation not heat that causes wool to shrink...

[Llama]

Polyester is almost impossible to dye. At best you'll get a mottled color, but it'll probably just ending up looking like mud.

You might be able to take it a bit darker, or add some tint, but it might not be worth the price to experiment.

[ArmyPiper]

The answer is no. As stated by several above, its not the wool, that is an easy dye, its the polyester, you cannot dye it, not at normal low temps, in the fabric industry they use special dyes and are done at extreme high heats and with chemicals, the side effect is that when you try this on a 50/50 blend it causes the wool to frizz or go fuzzy. But NO you wont get a black color on the poly ever...it may go a bit darker if your lucky but it wont take to black...I know from experience

[piperdbh]

You could try bleaching the coat before you dye it. Another idea is to take the coat to an upscale bridal shop. They'll have experience in dying fabrics, and will be able to tell you exactly how to go about the process, if at all. It might be easier to have a coat made in the color you want.