Re: Fabric recoloring??????????????????? Spray dye?

Posted by HH56 On 2012/3/24 23:59:51

Hate to admit this but tried something similar many years ago with the same trim in my first Patrician. Turned out to be not one of my better ideas. Hopefully anyone else who might have tried had better luck. Spray can dyes were available out here at the time but not so much anymore because of the EPA and the air restrictions with solvents.

Two problems became evident when I tried. In my case, was trying to cover some water stains on the door panels and a sun faded spot on the back seat.

First and foremost, the stock blue colors I could find then were pretty much not a match to anything Packard offered. I thought I came close but it turned out darker and was very evident. There may be someone willing to custom match but I didn't try at the time. If you are able to go that route, fading will probably still be an issue to the point the entire car will have to be done. I wound up doing that to cover up the first mistake.

Second problem became evident with my spraying action. Unless the application is very consistent -- speed of movement, direction, and you name any other variable -- the results will not be uniform. Any significant variation will be apparent.

In any case, because the dye is transparent most likely any stains will still be visible unless the dye is on extremely heavy. Putting it on thick to cover a stain will just ruin the rich look of the fabric and cover the metal threads. Fortunately, I did not make that mistake and lived with the stains after all.

I did have very good luck in dying some original NOS fabric for a 54 Pacific. That was done with Rit dye and still looks great after several years. Bought a new very large galvanized garbage can & rigged up an electric water tank heater to heat the water. Difference was the material was bulk and not sewn into a seat cover yet. Not willing to do it again because you can't believe how much work maneuvering 15-20 yards of material is in trying to keep it consistent in the solution --let alone hanging it to dry without bunching it or getting it dirtied up.