I bought a flower girl dress in white. My dress is ivory. I just want to give it a little color. Off-white. I am not trying to match my dress color exactly. I read the posting about the polyester, and not being able to dye it. Does this also apply to just giving a hint of color? The dress is 92% poly and 8% Lycra. It has an organza-type fabric overlay. What about tea-dying? Would that work on this dress? One more thing…the dress says “dry clean only”. Please help me. I really want this dress in my wedding. Thanks, Joy Whitener

Dear Joy,
It is so interesting; I was just making a stab at dyeing rayon organza myself without much result. Organza is a really slippery, translucent fabric which the dye does not want to adhere to. Especially in polyester. In general, the reactive dyes do not stick to polyester at all.
You could try tea dyeing if you are not attached to the result. Or if you have a back up plan. I really don’t know what it will do!

The reason that I say that you should have a back up plan is that you must immerse the entire dress in warm-to-cool water, and the care instructions in the dress say dry clean only. This means they are not guaranteeing that the trim, the dress, the overlay, the lining, etc. or any part thereof will withstand soaking in water.
Go to www.askjeeves.com and search for tea dyeing. There are some good, informative sites there with a lot of stories from people who have done tea dyeing in various ways. Have fun and good luck! Have a wonderful wedding!
Jennifer