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dyeing Mil surplus poly cotton fabrics

teef

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i've got a couple army surplus jackets -- one American and one British -- which i like the design of but the camo patterns are Desert Storm era and waaaaay too aggressive to wear in public, IMO.
i'm thinking of a little diy colouring to mute the "Weekend Warrior" look but i've seen conflicting info on dyeing the fabrics.
on the one hand there is this thread here from 2014: Expired - Dpm windproof smock - bargain price! - clearance

basically a guy there wanted to do the same as i'm thinking of but the common wisdom given was that the Mil fabrics -- especially British DPM -- are often coated/treated and won't take the dye.

on the other hand the folks at Varusteleka have mentioned having had good success dyeing a British Cs95 Smock (Desert DPM) which is one of the jackets i've got.

so i'm wondering, anyone here have first hand experience with this dyeing business?
i'm game to give it a go if the chances are good but since there's a bit of cost up front for dye pots and suchlike i thought i'd ask around first.
 
i thought a couple pics might help.

here's what the British Cs95 Smock (Desert DPM) looks like "raw":
dpm-raw.jpg


and here's what Varusteleka guys say they managed with black dye:
dpm-dyed-black.jpg


i'd happily go for the latter!
 
I've tried dying camo stuff in the past and always been disappointing with the results. And when you work out the price of multiple dyes and salt, works out cheaper to buy an item in the colour you want. They always come out way too light and you end up with buttons, zips or bits of trim, not taking the colour and being a jarringly wrong colour.
Have a go, but don't get your hopes up :(
 
Try soaking the item in water & bleach solution first, wash then dye. Might not work but worth a bash
 
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Unless the fabric is 100% cotton or linen/cotton mix I wouldn't try to dye it as it would only take on the cotton content of the fabric and not the polyester. Wool is another difficult one where it almost always comes out several shades lighter than you anticipate.
 
Unless the fabric is 100% cotton or linen/cotton mix I wouldn't try to dye it as it would only take on the cotton content of the fabric and not the polyester. ...

info i've seen recently says to use both a cotton and a polyester dye, each dye going for the relevant fibres.
see https://www.jacquardproducts.com/s/iDye-Poly-Instructions-gsne.pdf for example, the section on "Stove top method for fabric blends ..." in particular.

Stove top method for fabric blends that contain both natural and synthetic fibers:
1. Fill a stainless steel or enamel pot with just enough water for the fabric to move freely. Turn on to high heat.
2. Choose the iDye Poly color closest to the iDye for Natural Fabrics color you are using and add both packets to dye bath. Add Color Intensifier and stir until dissolved.
3. Add pre-wetted garments/fabric and bring to a boil.
4. Add 1 cup/270 g of non-iodized salt for cotton, linen and rayon or Âą/Âł cup/78 ml. of white vinegar for silk. Avoid pouring directly onto fabric.
5. Maintain a rolling boil and stir frequently for ½ to 1 hour. For uniform color, use constant agitation.
6. Gradually cool the fabric, wash with a mild detergent and dry.
 
been poking around the interwebs regarding this dyeing business and stumbled across an interesting possible alternative: acrylic paints.

as it happens the acrylic paints are considerably cheaper than dyes. even if you use a lot of paint to get a very strong colour wash you still only end up spending less than half of what you'd pay for dyes.

whereas the poly/cotton dyes (mostly) need a simmering cook of the item for an hour or so the acrylic paints are just mix with water and drop your item in.

dyes can achieve a deeper colour saturation though, so that's one downside to the acrylic paints. judging from the Youtube videos on the acrylic paints process it looks like a deeply coloured bath will give you a half-assed final colour. for me that's not an issue because i just want to tint stuff as opposed to totally changing it to a solid colour. needless to say YMMV.

fwiw, there is something called "textile wash" that can be added to the acrylic paint wash to assist the fabric colouring. users are mixed on its usefulness, so the necessity of using it is somewhat in question.

at this point i've got enough items i want to colour that i'm going to try both processes, dyes and paints, to see which i like best.
 
ok, finally got around to taking my first crack at this dyeing business.

i used _one_ packet of iDye Poly Green (452) in about 30 litres of simmering water.
my goal: tint a bunch of Desert DPM gear (mortar bag and a variety of small pouches) plus an ACU Field Jacket, in other words shift the colour to green but retain the basic camo pattern. my thinking was i just wanted to tint the stuff rather than dye it a solid colour so i would use the one packet of dye on a lot more material than you normally would.

end results:
- the mortar bag dyed quickly, 10 minutes maybe, and turned out beautifully. tinted the whole thing a consistent middle green so it now looks like a "jungle" DPM. all the odd bits -- liner, stitching, zips, etc -- took the colour. very happy with that.

- middling results on the ACU jacket: it took a lot longer -- 30 mins maybe -- and tinted green okay but the pale parts of the pattern didn't pick up much colour. vast improvement though over the original, no doubt about that. the jacket is poly-cotton so maybe a shot of iDye regular (for natural fabrics) is in order.

- the pouches were a whole other story, very mixed results. it seems the rubberized cordura is much slower to take the dye, so in the end they had to sit in the dye bath for hours and the colouring is a bit blotchy and uneven. also different colouration for different pouches, obviously not all made of the same material. not that i really care, they're fine for my tastes and are perfectly usable (now) IMO.

so, some great results and some middling but overall I'm pretty pleased with it. i'd call it a success and won't hesitate to take another run at it on some other gear.
if some pictures are of interest just let me know and i'll happily oblige.
 
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i've run through a number of dye batches at this point and thought i might share a few additional observations:
  • the iDye Poly is quite effective on most -- but not all -- poly/cotton blends, with a few caveats:
    - the first thing you run through the dye bath will take good colour, anything that follows will get a mild tint (at best).
    - some poly/cotton blends are simply poly dye resistant. whether that is because of the fabric itself or the chemicals that it was treated with (as much military gear is) is open to question but the fact remains: results vary.
  • i think most people have a tendency to use too much water, i certainly do. the instructions on iDye Poly, for example, say something like "only use as much water as is necessary to cover the item being dyed". they're not kidding. in my experience you should minimize the water for better colour saturation.
  • if you're using minimum water keep i mind that the water in a pre-soaked item will act as a mild colour resist. you can use this to your advantage, if for instance you want a mottled dye job. if not, then stir a lot to get even exposure to the dye.
  • don't forget natural fabric dyes on poly/cotton blends, they can be surprisingly effective. for example i have an ACU jacket that would barely take the Poly dye. i know, i tried three times! one good dunk and swirl in iDye Natural though did the trick. go figure.
  • in my experience iDye Poly weakens pretty quickly on successive items whereas the iDye Natural keeps kicking. for example, on a double batch of iDye Poly I was able to colour a vest and 4 pouches plus mildly tint two jackets. with a double batch of iDye Natural i did 3 jackets, 2 smocks and 2 shirts all with as much colour as i wanted in them. and i think i could have kept going if i'd had more things to dye.
  • and last but not least i'd say avoid frustration by assuming when you start that any dye job is just the next step toward what you want rather expecting it to be a one-shot-job-done thing. sometimes you get lucky and you get your desired result in one go. happy days! but that's unlikely to be the norm. two or more attempts may be required to get it right.
 
got a bit to add to my ongoing dyeing project. i've been trying the acrylic paints approach to colouring surplus gear and it's worked out a lot better than i had expected.
it's pretty much limited to tinting stuff rather than flat-out dyeing it a different colour. for my purposes -- taking stuff like Desert DPM, US ACU or MTP (which i find too light in colour) and making something usable -- the tinting approach works fine.

a few notes on using acrylic paints on surplus items:
  • acrylic is a cold-water process whereas dye is a hot water process. with dye you are basically cooking your kit, sometimes with undesirable side effects. no such issue with acrylic paints.
  • works equally well on canvas, cordura, nylon, whatever. woven fabrics are best so the paint can soak in and grab the fibers.
  • do a test piece -- on a hidden corner of the item for instance -- before jumping in. results are often not what you'd expect.
  • moisten the fabric a bit before applying the paint, much better coverage and less blotching.
  • the best results i've had are by layering: try a thinned wash of the paint, apply it with a paintbrush or sponge, let it dry, do another wash if necessary.
  • expect the dried item to be considerably less saturated with colour than what you thought you had applied. again, layering is the best if you have the will and time.
  • once it's dry it's pretty stable and generally unaffected by sun or water.
  • one cool trick: black and yellow make a great olive drab. who knew? :)
 
Last edited:
got a bit to add to my ongoing dyeing project. i've been trying the acrylic paints approach to colouring surplus gear and it's worked out a lot better than i had expected.
it's pretty much limited to tinting stuff rather than flat-out dyeing it a different colour. for my purposes -- taking stuff like Desert DPM, US ACU or MTP (which i find too light in colour) and making something usable -- the tinting approach works fine.

a few notes on using acrylic paints on surplus items:
  • acrylic is a cold-water process whereas dye is a hot water process. with dye you are basically cooking your kit, sometimes with undesirable side effects. no such issue with acrylic paints.
  • works equally well on canvas, cordura, nylon, whatever. woven fabrics are best so the paint can soak in and grab the fibers.
  • do a test piece -- on a hidden corner of the item for instance -- before jumping in. results are often not what you'd expect.
  • moisten the fabric a bit before applying the paint, much better coverage and less blotching.
  • the best results i've had are by layering: try a thinned wash of the paint, apply it with a paintbrush or sponge, let it dry, do another wash if necessary.
  • expect the dried item to be considerably less saturated with colour than what you thought you had applied. again, layering is the best if you have the will and time.
  • once it's dry it's pretty stable and generally unaffected by sun or water.
  • one cool trick: black and yellow make a great olive drab.
 
I often dye Desert DPM camo with an olive green dye and get this effect. Im more than happy with it. However if it looks crap in your opinion I wont be upset if you say so
 

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looks great to me! i do something similar, more of a monkey-shit brown theme to mine though. :D

i loath the undyed Desert DPM but it does make an excellent base for some creative dye work. đź‘Ť
 
looks great to me! i do something similar, more of a monkey-shit brown theme to mine though. :D

i loath the undyed Desert DPM but it does make an excellent base for some creative dye work. đź‘Ť
Desert DPM is very effective for shooting pigeons from wheat fields.

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