- March 22nd, 2008, 2:16 pm#42143
NOTE: This recipe will ONLY work on cotton suits or poly/cotton blends. It will NOT work on Nomex. RIT Dye requires natural fibers like cotton, and doesn't work well on synthetic fibers. Nomex is synthetic. It will NOTsignificantly lighten OR take RIT dye. Ever.
I'm providing my dye recipes for the two varieties of flightsuits I've successfully used it on: Tru-Spec and Rothco.
Rothco suits are made with a higher cotton content material and are therefore easier to color strip and dye, yet suffer from thin material, ugly tailoring, cheap construction, and ugly poly zippers.
Tru-Spec suits are made from heavier material with better and more accurate tailoring, higher quality construction, and brass zippers; however, they have a higher polyester content and are therefore more difficult to color strip and dye.
Use whichever suit meets your requirement in regard to budget, ease of modification, appearance, and overall quality.
Tru-Spec Recipe:
Rothco Recipe:
My Rothco suit started as a black poly/cotton flightsuit, purchased in 2003 from Outinstyle.com. You can find these all over the place, and they are very similar to Fox brand flightsuits (though I cannot confirm that this dye recipe will work verbatim). Both can be found for around $30.
The liquid dye seems, to me, to take effect much more quickly than the powdered dye, and is easier to measure and work with.
The suit should be good to go for a few wearings and washings. It will eventually start to lighten, however, and the remedy for this is simple. Just fill up the washing machine with hot water, pour about 1/4 cup of liquid Navy Blue RIT and some salt into the water, and add the pre-soaked suit. Put it through the wash and rinse cycle, and the color should be refreshed.
Photos:
Tru-Spec
Natural Light
Rothco
Low Light
Natural Light
I'm providing my dye recipes for the two varieties of flightsuits I've successfully used it on: Tru-Spec and Rothco.
Rothco suits are made with a higher cotton content material and are therefore easier to color strip and dye, yet suffer from thin material, ugly tailoring, cheap construction, and ugly poly zippers.
Tru-Spec suits are made from heavier material with better and more accurate tailoring, higher quality construction, and brass zippers; however, they have a higher polyester content and are therefore more difficult to color strip and dye.
Use whichever suit meets your requirement in regard to budget, ease of modification, appearance, and overall quality.
Tru-Spec Recipe:
Tru-Spec Recipe - Jairus wrote:This recipe gives you the option of washer dyeing (easier) or sink dyeing (uses less dye and water).
My Tru-Spec suit started as a black poly/cotton flightsuit purchased in 2008 from the Atlanco (Tru-Spec) outlet in Atlanta, GA, though these suits are available all over the Internet, usually at about $40.
Washer
1.) Wash suit twice with 1 cup of bleach each time, hot/cold cotton cycle. Machine Dry with a Fabric Softener sheet both times. (This is to knock a little of the sheen out of the fabric and agitate the fibers to be more receptive to dye.)
2.) Wash again, hot/cold cotton cycle, with 2 cups bleach.
3.) Wash again, hot/cold cotton cycle, with 1/2 bottle Kelly Green liquid RIT and 1/2 cup salt. Do not dry; leave the suit damp.
4.) Wash again, hot/cold cotton cycle, with 1 bottle Royal Blue liquid RIT and 1 cup salt.
5.) Wash on warm/cold cycle with normal detergent. Use the extra rinse cycle option if available. Machine Dry normally, with or without fabric softener.
Sink
1.) Wash suit with 2 packets RIT color remover, hot/cold cotton cycle. Machine Dry with a Fabric Softener sheet. (This is to knock a little of the sheen out of the fabric, lighten it, and agitate the fibers to be more receptive to dye.)
2.) Wash suit with 1 cup bleach, hot/cold cotton cycle. Machine Dry with a Fabric Softener sheet.
3.) Wash again, hot/cold cotton cycle, with 2 cups bleach. Do not dry; leave the suit damp.
4.) Dye with 1 cup (237 mL) Royal Blue liquid RIT, 1/4 cup (59 mL) Kelly Green liquid RIT, and 1 cup (237 mL) salt in a sink full of hot water for 10 minutes.
5.) Pull out, rinse until the water runs clear.
6.) Add a little more hot water to the dye bath, and let the suit soak for another 10 minutes.
7.) Pull out, rinse well until the water runs clear. Machine Dry with or without fabric softener.
Rothco Recipe:
My Rothco suit started as a black poly/cotton flightsuit, purchased in 2003 from Outinstyle.com. You can find these all over the place, and they are very similar to Fox brand flightsuits (though I cannot confirm that this dye recipe will work verbatim). Both can be found for around $30.
Rothco Recipe - Jairus wrote:1.) Wash suit twice, hot/cold cotton cycle. Machine Dry with a Fabric Softener sheet both times. (This is to knock a little of the sheen out of the fabric and agitate the fibers to be more receptive to dye.)All steps are important to the finished results, including the preliminary washing. Be sure to use water as hot as you can physically get it. Use your black uniform gloves if you have to, to be able to stand the heat, but the hotter the water, the better the suit take the dye.
2.) Wash again, hot/cold cotton cycle, with 1 cup bleach. Do not dry; leave the suit damp.
3.) Dye with 3/4 cup (177 mL) Navy Blue liquid RIT and 1/4 cup (59 mL) salt in a sink full of hot water for 10 minutes.
4.) Pull out, rinse until the water runs clear.
5.) Add a little more hot water to the dye bath, and let the suit soak for another 10 minutes.
6.) Pull out, rinse well until the water runs clear. Machine Dry with a Fabric Softener sheet.
The liquid dye seems, to me, to take effect much more quickly than the powdered dye, and is easier to measure and work with.
The suit should be good to go for a few wearings and washings. It will eventually start to lighten, however, and the remedy for this is simple. Just fill up the washing machine with hot water, pour about 1/4 cup of liquid Navy Blue RIT and some salt into the water, and add the pre-soaked suit. Put it through the wash and rinse cycle, and the color should be refreshed.
Photos:
Tru-Spec
Natural Light
Rothco
Low Light
Natural Light
Last edited by Jairus on August 3rd, 2018, 2:05 pm, edited 16 times in total.
Vincenzo330, BlkMesaHero liked this
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