Club Obi Wan

Has anyone tried to dye a Wested Indy shirt? I recently bought one, and while the material and the fit are fantastic, the color is a bit on the yellow side. I've used Rit "Pearl Gray" to turn tan items to more of a stone color (did it for a flight suit and a close-enough Indy shirt) but I know different materials take dye in different ways.

Any experiences or suggestions are welcome!

What about bleaching the color out, then recoloring it using Tea or coffee?

I tend to be wary of bleach after bad experiences with splotches and weakening the fabric. In small doses though, it might be a good option since the raiders shirt, especially in the Cairo rooftop scenes, looks like a very light stone gray.

You may want to try RIT color remover rather than bleach.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Indiana Jeff wrote:You may want to try RIT color remover rather than bleach.

Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Solid idea! Thanks IJ. I think I'm going to use the RIT remover and then some pearle gray trial-and-error. I'll post some before and after pics soon!

Glad to help. I used the RIT color remover on a close enough shirt forever ago and it didn't negatively impact the material at all. Unfortunately, it was so long ago it was pre-digital so if I still have any pictures of that shirt they are buried in a box somewhere.


Regards,

Indiana Jeff

Of course... don't forget

http://whitvani.net/dalexs/shirt/shirtFAQ.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dalexs wrote:Of course... don't forget

http://whitvani.net/dalexs/shirt/shirtFAQ.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's a great tutorial! I think I remember reading it back when I first joined (a decade ago, how the time flies!). If the normal mix is 4:3 gray to tan, I wonder if I should scale back the tan since the wested shirt is already on the yellow side rather than pinkish...

Hi Green,

The Wested shirt is a polyester/cotton mix rather than 100pct cotton and it will absorb less colour from the formula.

I would suggest you then to increase or double the dosage of the mix, not reduce it. Using RIT Colour remover before dyeing is a must.

Brgds

indygr wrote:Hi Green,

The Wested shirt is a polyester/cotton mix rather than 100pct cotton and it will absorb less colour from the formula.

That's a really important point. This method was only ever tested with 100% cotton.
I've used RIT remover on both NH shirts, and LLBean (which were VERY hard to get the color out of... )

If would get the color out first and see what you're left with, then go from there.
Polyester will give in very little, if any at all. So if the color doesn't come out it, you're need to punt.
It''ll be interesting to see your results, and would be happy to publish them if it all works out.

Also, this was originally done using a conventional washing machine.
Today's modern ultra-efficient washers use VERY little water. So beware if this is the case.

Dalexs

Dalexs wrote:

indygr wrote:Hi Green,

The Wested shirt is a polyester/cotton mix rather than 100pct cotton and it will absorb less colour from the formula.

That's a really important point. This method was only ever tested with 100% cotton.
I've used RIT remover on both NH shirts, and LLBean (which were VERY hard to get the color out of... )

If would get the color out first and see what you're left with, then go from there.
Polyester will give in very little, if any at all. So if the color doesn't come out it, you're need to punt.
It''ll be interesting to see your results, and would be happy to publish them if it all works out.

Also, this was originally done using a conventional washing machine.
Today's modern ultra-efficient washers use VERY little water. So beware if this is the case.

I suppose I didn't consider the polyester content in the shirt, that will definitely add a degree of difficulty. The good news is I don't have a new, ultra efficient washing machine (thanks Craigslist!) so it should do a solid job with the dye. That being said, I may have to do a few rounds each of color remover and color. That being said, hopefully the poly blend keeps the shirt from shrinking throughout this whole process. It fits #### near perfect right out of the bag, which is rare since I have tiny T-rex arms...

Green,

Following to Dalexs' post, check below the difference in colour absorption of the Wested vs. the Adventurebilt shirt which is 100% cotton.

I used exactly the same dosage while redyeing my wested and adventurebilt shirt to match the MBA one. Wested shirt is on top. Observe, how little dye the Wested absorbed during the process. I would suggest you to check first the polyester/cotton mix %. I remember it was somewhere 70/30, maybe I am mistaken.

Great reference pic! I actually like the wested color a little more after the dye job, it's very light. As long as the yellow/tan tint comes out of the shirt, I'll be happy.

Dalexs wrote:

indygr wrote:Hi Green,

The Wested shirt is a polyester/cotton mix rather than 100pct cotton and it will absorb less colour from the formula.

That's a really important point. This method was only ever tested with 100% cotton.
I've used RIT remover on both NH shirts, and LLBean (which were VERY hard to get the color out of... )

If would get the color out first and see what you're left with, then go from there.
Polyester will give in very little, if any at all. So if the color doesn't come out it, you're need to punt.
It''ll be interesting to see your results, and would be happy to publish them if it all works out.

Also, this was originally done using a conventional washing machine.
Today's modern ultra-efficient washers use VERY little water. So beware if this is the case.

Dalexs

Has anybody tried removing the color from a linen shirt?
Did a quick search and didn't find anything about this, so please re direct me if I missed something.
I'm thinking about doing the re dye thing to a close enough shirt I have but don't want to ruin it of course.
I checked the Rit site and it can be done, but I'm curious to hear actual results from COW folk.
Thanks for any help.