I just bought some red cap coveralls in spruce green. How do I go about getting them similar to a H1 color?? Which dye etc, and what is the process??
Thanks
To start you should wash them a few times with fabric softener. Depending on how dark green they are,
you may need to lighten them in the washing machine with some bleach.
Theyre a good dark green base, so you need a synthetic or poly fabric dye
regular cotton dye wont work on 65% polyester
You can use RIT dyemore they have frost grey, charcoal grey or graphite. Jaquard has I-dye poly fabric dye in silver grey.
The process is easy you put the coveralls in a plastic washtub with enough hot tap water to cover them.
Make sure the coveralls are soaking wet so the fabric dye color is even and consistent.
You boil a huge soup pot of water on the stove, Take the coveralls out of the tub then pour in the boiling water.
Now you add the fabric dye I’d say maybe half a bottle of a light grey dye.
The dyemore charcoal grey bottle alot less its quite dark so 1/3 of the bottle poured in your plastic tub
Put the already wet coveralls in the hot fabric dye bath, I use a wood paint stir stick to stir coveralls.
Keep stirring every 15-25 mins, and I flip the coveralls so front and back get even dye
You leave it in as long as you need light grey dye soaks like 4-5 hours.
The charcoal grey dye is darker than the green so I would keep and eye on them stirring every 15 minutes
Overall the charcoal grey dye would be like 1-2 hours max, the hot water/dark color soaks up alot faster
so they can get dark real quick especially Rit dye ‘‘graphite’’ it turned my light grey coveralls near black in 15 minutes
After Im happy with the color I hang them on the clothesline and spray them w/ the garden hose to rinse the excess dye
After that just a rinse/spin cycle in the washer without laundry soap, just to rinse any leftover dye.
Then put them in the dryer with alot of fabric softener sheets
- Aaron
Can I do this in the bath tub?? What to use besides a plastic tub?
You can do this in the bathtub but a poly/plastic dye will stain your tub grey.
You can use the sink next to washing machine if you have a plug, you can use a bucket
Some people have used a rubbermaid tote with a lid on and swish it around instead of stirring.
You can dye in the washing machine they have instruction on the bottles,
its just a matter of getting hot enough water and enough water to cover the coveralls
You can alse dye them in a big soup pot on the stovetop, go to a thrift store and buy a huge metal pot.
Dont use a steel pot you cook/eat with the dye isnt food safe
There is no harm in bleach diluted in a washing machine, you only get yellow stains from pouring straight bleach on them
1 cup of bleach in a full washing machine of water is diluted less than 10-1.
If you want when I get home I can take a pic of my Workrites. Not a single yellow stain or discoloration.
Perfectly faded they went from brand new out of the box to loking like Ive owned them for 10 years
Rit color remove is for cotton blends, there is only 35% cotton in the redkaps.
It says on the box its meant for natural materials not polyester so it wont have hardly any effect
do have any images of bleaching being used on spruce green red kaps or similar coveralls? I also have a pair on the way but I haven’t been able to find what they look like post bleaching.
Yes this is a thread I made for my Sears coveralls. I did 3 or so wash cycles with bleach on a pair dyed dark green .
If you look at the pics there are no bleach stains on them and it didnt hurt, it helped lighten them when I went too dark
The dye process is alittle different, my pair is 100% cotton not the same as Redkaps
https://forum.michael-myers.net/t/my-rehauled-sears-coveralls/60851/6
Thanks for the link, I remember seeing this when you posted it, I forgot all about it, so would the red kaps not fade as much?
They will do the same thing, I meant was I used all purpose cotton dye instead of the synthetic dye you need.
Every pair of coveralls I own/weathered Ive used bleach on even my H8 Dakotas. You always dilute it with lots of water.
You wait until the washer full w/ hot water, then pour in a red plastic cup of bleach, thats like 10% bleach 80% water.
Im lucky we have the new washer with the window/lid in the front a high efficiency machine.
It has a thing in the top where you put the soap/softenter theres one for bleach so I just pour bleach in there
and it mixes it with the hot water cycle without any soap
Youll only get discolorations if you pour straight bleach directly on the coveralls, as long as its watered down its safe
I wasn’t planning on dying them, just trying to make them look old and weathered, could i achieve the same effect by just using low grade sandpaper and dirtying them up?
You can do that for the weathering for sure, It wont lighten the fabric or have the same effect.
Just wash them once with softener to loosen/break in the fabric. You wont need much maybe 2 wash cycles with bleach
Just enough to lighten them, theyll look like theyve been worn/washed 20 times. Its the same thing film costume designers do when they get brand new clothes and make them look worn its the quickest way
ok, I think I might give it a try, the coveralls will be here in about 2 weeks or so.