Dying fabric (sofa covers)?

[2Btoo]

Guys,

I'm not sure which is the best forum to stick this in to get the best replies, but Mrs 2bToo and I are looking to have some sofa covers re-dyed. The sofas are 25 years old but high-quality and in excellent condition. The covers can be unzipped and removed and are also in excellent condition, but quite faded. Hence the desire to re-dye them, aiming for their original (or close to original) colour.

Here are some photos:







There are two single chairs and one double. The fabric is cotton and I'd guess the whole lot is around 12-15kg of material.

The problem is finding someone who can/will dye them for us. Lots of places will make new covers but the current ones are fine, other than the fadedness. We have found one chap who sounds quite plausible but he has quoted £900 to dye them all.

Does anyone have a place or company they can recommend? Or is anyone here into fabric dying and able to make some recommendations about price and options?

All suggestions welcome, thanks.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I'd just leave them as they are. They look lovely & lived in.

£900 sounds a crazy amount of money! Especially when the dye will look different according to which part of the fabric it applies to.

[2Btoo]

Thanks 2 sMoKiN bArReLs. Keeping them as they are isn't a popular option with Mrs 2BToo, and I can understand why; they are more faded in real life that they look in the pictures.

I agree that £900 is a LOT of cash for what I think isn't much of a job. The guy who was lined up sounded very plausible but slightly shot his own goose by calling on Friday and asking whether he could come over to re-dye them by spraying them in situ and fixing the dye with a steam cleaning machine afterwards rather than soaking them in some kind of product. That made me wonder exactly what we would be getting for nearly a grand of hard-earned.

There hasn't been much response in here to this thread so I'm going to duplicate it elsewhere, but thanks for your answer. It's appreciated.

[2Btoo]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 04 February 2026 at 14:46

[Mad Maximus]

£900 sounds mental to me. I think you just haven’t found the right person or business to do it.

[s p a c e m a n]

We did some chair cushions a few months with dylon fabric dye from Amazon. Came out well, wasn't difficult and they've got loads of colours.

We did it in a 25 litre plasterers bucket from Screwfix and then washed it but the instructions say that you can just do it all in the washing machine.

[Super Sonic]

Can you do them in a bathtub?

[rlw]

The covers are twenty five years old so and are worn and faded badly and dying them will only work if you can get even coverage with a darker colour. They will probably need washing and bleaching to some extent, then hot dying and fixing to get any chance of the colour not coming off when you sit on them.

My view, not professional, is that the chances of achieving what you want are pretty limited, mainly due to the age and condition of the fabric, and what you will need to do to it.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

rlw said:

The covers are twenty five years old so and are worn and faded badly and dying them will only work if you can get even coverage with a darker colour. They will probably need washing and bleaching to some extent, then hot dying and fixing to get any chance of the colour not coming off when you sit on them.

My view, not professional, is that the chances of achieving what you want are pretty limited, mainly due to the age and condition of the fabric, and what you will need to do to it.

That what I was thinking. If OP wants to retain the sofas I'd imagine new covers must be the way to go

[2Btoo]

We're avoiding the Dylon route; it's not bad stuff but very much at the amateur end of the scale. It fades very quickly (and even more quickly when left in sunlight) and I'm not sure how much it would rub off on other things. Good idea though, and thanks for the suggestion.

[2Btoo]

Mad Maximus said:

£900 sounds mental to me. I think you just haven t found the right person or business to do it.

You're right - I'm trying to find the right person or business!

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

rlw said:

The covers are twenty five years old so and are worn and faded badly and dying them will only work if you can get even coverage with a darker colour. They will probably need washing and bleaching to some extent, then hot dying and fixing to get any chance of the colour not coming off when you sit on them.

My view, not professional, is that the chances of achieving what you want are pretty limited, mainly due to the age and condition of the fabric, and what you will need to do to it.

That what I was thinking. If OP wants to retain the sofas I'd imagine new covers must be the way to go

rlw and 2 sMoKiN bArReLs - thanks. They are surprisingly unworn; were it not for the fading you would be hard pressed to believe they aren't new. The fabric hasn't even started to pull apart where it's been in the sun, which amazes me. The colour fading is the only thing wrong with them, hence the interest in re-dying.

rlw - You sound from your post as if you know a thing or two about fabric dying - can you recommend someone to talk to?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

The trouble with dye is it will take differently to the different fabrics, trims and threads. Plus, as said you will probably need to dye darker and there will be the inherent risk of dye transfer to clothing. (I imagine you wear a lot of white trousers )

Because of the possible need to bleach first you run the risk of weakening old threads. (I know this was said by the other poster above, but just to reiterate).

I'm not an expert, but was once a director of the company now known as Parker Knoll, so I've a passing knowledge of sofas and how they behave

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Having said all that, this is my favourite chair. Her indoors keeps trying to get rid of it