Fabric dying question- help!

[momof2beautys]

I am trying to work on our costumes for MNSSHP. My daughter is going as the Cheshire cat and I dyed her nylon bodysuit purple. The suit is too purple and I need to lighten it up before I can paint on the pink stripes. Anyone know how I can do this? Also, my husband will be the Mad Hatter. I found him a top hat but it is black. The top hat is made of 100% polyester. Obviously, it needs to be green. Is there a way to lighten it before I paint it green or should I just try and paint it green over the black? Thanks for your help!

 

[solferino]

I'd just spraypaint the hat.

As to the bodysuit, I have no idea how to lighten it other then bleach, but that could really be an invite for disaster. Is it so purple it's almost black?

 

[momof2beautys]

Thanks for your reply. I think I will just try and spray paint the hat. The purple was a good purple, it was just too dark to paint pink stripes over it. I was afriad they would not show up. I tried to lighten the bodysuit today and of course it is now way too light. I will probably just try and paint the stripes on, I just didn't want it to be too hot. I hope the fabric paint will breathe and not be too stiff.

 

[Imzadi]

Try these from Dharma Trading. Some of the paints are specially formulated for nylons.
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3244-AA.shtml?lnav=paints.html

These two say they are great for dark fabrics:
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/35347-AA.shtml

http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/1847-AA.shtml?lnav=paints.html

 

[patchchild]

I second the vote for looking at Dharma. They are fantastic for fabric dyes.

 

[solferino]

I second the vote for looking at Dharma. They are fantastic for fabric dyes.

Agreed. I do a TON of wool dyeing and have had such good luck with the Jacquard brand. I dyed some bridal shoes with the same dyes and they took beautifully, but aside from that I have *no* experience with synthetics.

As an aside patchchild, I'm just hike down rt 2 from you