dyeing or painting a sofa

[kris]

Hi:

Just wanted to know if it was possible to use Jacquard dye to paint directly on an upholstered sofa. The fabric is currently a golden yellow colour and appears to be cotton with a textured stripe (an ottoman textile weave). I would like to paint it on directly with a brush and change it to a sort of charcoal grey (maybe through diluting or mixing black dye).

Also, the dyeing would have to be permanent (obviously). How would I fix the dye?

Has anyone had any experience using Jacquard dyes for a similar project?

Kris

[pburch]

You can dye the upholstery if two things are true: 1, it is made of a dyeable fiber (not olefin!), and 2, you have removed the fabric from the sofa first.

You can't dye upholstery fabric (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/furniture.shtml) when it is still on the furniture, because you won't be able to wash out the excess dye, which will then rub off on the clothing of whoever sits on the furniture. Also, you must match the type of the dye to the fiber content of the fabric (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/aboutdyes.shtml), and many types of dye require boiling to attach to the fiber. You can't put your whole sofa into a dyeing pot, but there are many kinds of upholstery fabric that can't be used with cool water dyes (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fiberreactive.shtml).

However, it is possible to use fabric PAINT (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fabricpaints.shtml), instead of dye, to recolor a couch, though it won't last as long as new upholstery will (for best results, buy a book on how to reupholster your furniture and sew a new cover for your sofa). You will probably need several quarts of a good fabric paint, such as Jacquard Textile Colors, Dye-na-Flow, or Neopaque, to paint your sofa, depending on its size. See Instructions for Painting Upholstered Furniture (http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/furniture_painting.shtml).

Paula