Hello Jennifer-
What a great column!
2 questions 1 – best recommendations for dyeing dupioni without wrecking the finish? I Hand washed a blouse once and it lost its hand, the ‘crunch’. Anyway to restore it? I gather it needs the sericin put back in, so I thought of getting some raw silk fiber to wash it with and hopefully put the sericin back. What do you think?
2. What’s the best way to remove color from silk? I bought yarn on eBay, 90%silk 10% cashmere beautiful- but color wasn’t as expected, so I’d like to lighten it and over dye. End color does NOT have to be exactly even… Thanks in advance.
-Rosanna

Dear Rosanna,
I don’t know of a way to get that crisp hand back to washed dupioni. You can always dry clean if you want it to stay that way. I generally wash dupioni before construction so that it shrinks and ends up the way it will be in the finished garment.
As for your yarn, check with www.dharmatrading.com or www.prochemical.com. Both carry products for removing dyes (discharging). In general, wool is dyed in very hot water on the stove. It’s a big and potentially messy job. Maybe you are called on to experiment with a new color, the one you say you don’t like. Stranger things have happened. I went a whole new direction in my creative life when my friend gave me a vintage jacket in a color that I didn’t think I liked.
Have fun,
Jennifer