Fabric Dyeing

Just wondering, would it be possible to dye navy blue curtains and turn them into a dark chocolate brown?

Cheers!

Probably not. The best you can do is probably sorta purplish brown.

yeah I thought they might go purple too - yuk!

Or they might go black too, depending on the material and how well it takes the dye too.

can you strip it first then dye it?

most likely be easier and cheaper to buy a new pair, the wall in our bedroom behind our bed, the one that had the water pouring down it when mums extension was being done, well now we have a severe mould problem, had to pull the bed out and the mould was thick and black and hip height up the wall, its also forming up at the top too, we are going to have to strip adn repaint it all I guess and looks like we will have to rip our carpet out, guess it was wetter than we realised and now its got mould spores, what can we do. I dont want to have the bedroom without carpet, Im not happy and we cant afford more paint just now, I have a can with some soft brown paint in it, Id bought for bathroom about 18mnths ago but it didnt suit, would be enough to do the wall but I dont really want that colour, I dunno, just one more darn thing going kattywampus on us

We had a mold problem here from the water in the basement and it's no fun and very dangerous for your lungs. Plenty of air circulation, scrubbing with plenty of bleach water and later vinegar water. Be very careful you get it off your furniture, it grows every where. Do you have house hold insurance?? Maybe they will help you out. I think that is what triggered me to get asthma as I had been checked for it every year for years and always negative. That will get in everything in that room Helen. Our winter clothes were in that back bedroom and the mold was in the closet and our winter clothes too, even under and on the back of the wardrobe too and out dressers. I sure feel for you   

Sorry to hear about this new problem. Never ends does it?  

Yikes!!!! what a job to take care of..

Any one here that had a mould problem were always in a house with insufficient heating. The damp plus cold was the cause . Once ducted heating was put through the house all mould problems disappeared . I know you can't have that put in but you should look at putting some heat into that room to dry it out , even after you have washed everything down , to make sure it is dry. Is this the room that you had mould problems in the other year also ? or was that Lauras.

DH says that before you paint: 1) spray with bleach water 2) dry well 3) coat with white shellac. If you don't seal with the shellac, it will come through the paint. (We had a flood in the place I owned when I met DH, although the house was 113 years old and had never had a flood before.)

I find if its dark and cold thats when there is a problem and with the bed against a wall there is a dark space for it to form up, it also forms in two corners in that room, either end of the same wall, I have a wall panel heater in there that helps somewhat but our windows are very old sash ones with lots of gaps and until they are replaced and perhaps the carpet ripped out, I guess all we can do is repaint with mould inhibitor added to the paint. I do spray with clove oil/water mix, that helps but we didnt realise it was behind the bed. I had bad problems in what is now laura's new bedroom, we removed furniture and I cut the curtains off at window height so that light could get in and air flow, that fixed it, been very careful how we set up her room, hence the open desk and adjustable shelving, all along ground level is clear and can air and be warm and light. There is some mould in a corner in the room that she was in but I kept that under control, about to repaint that with mould stuff added to paint too

Marynel I have cleaned it all down with clove oil, it actually kills the spores whereas bleach only deters it, Ive sprayed the area down 4 times now and let it dry on it each time, that should do it, will look up the shellac use, Ive seen it for sale, interesting, thanks for the info

Odd about the beds. The only house I have ever lived in that there was mould was a new built house that had one wall that was in a shaded area , the other two were internal and one that got all the afternoon sun. On that shaded wall we had sons bedhead and it used to get mould in the winter behind it. Other furniture that was on the same wall didn't , just the bed head . I used to wonder if it was a combination of a cold wall and body heat coming from him. None of this helps your problem though ! Really the only solution is insulation and new windows but that isn't on the cards so don't know what else to suggest Re the floor though , a solid Vinyl covering would be better than carpet , even if it was colder on the feet .

that one wall in our bedroom thats the real problem is now insulated as its the one between us and mums place, I think the damged roof and the amount of water we got in has really pushed the problem over the top, I think the carpet or perhaps the underlay was wetter than we thought, it would now have mould spores in it if it didnt before, just a darn nuisance

If you talked to the builder friend of yours, maybe he would have some good ideas Helen since he works with that all the time. Hope you get it cleared up soon and you all have no lasting effects from it.

I picked up this bottle of british mould remover, says for bathrooms etc, its very obviously chlorine which does kill mould, I figure I have to repaint in my new sewing room to be, paint is all sitting in the middle of the floor so it wont matter if I buggar up the exisiting paint, I spayed it down, have washed it off one time, will do it again shortly but nearly all the mould has vanished, Id scrubbed and scrubbed before my back went out and still had that grey stain showing, now its gone, gotta help, thinking when I can Ill be pulling out furniture and doing our bedroom too

I did all that in the house I lived in when I met DH. mold stain came back. that's when DH told me to use white shellac as an undercoat.