Dylon New, Colour of The Year, Washing Machine Fabric Dye Pod for Clothes & Soft Furnishings - Orchid Pink (2856880)

Very pretty color and very easy to use!

Love this fabric dye, it really works well. Using Orchid Machine Wash, no patching, just a beautiful all over colour. The intensity varies according to fabric combinations resulting in deep fuchsia to raspberry. Yummy! Soooooo easy.

I bought 4 orchid pink pods to dye my grubby and stained Ikea armchair slipcovers into something bright, but darker (why I bought a white armchair with a toddler, is beyond me). I started by washing all the slipcovers in my relatively small washing machine and then emptied the dye directly into the drum of the machine, before placing the damp and previously washed covers on top (Dylon recommend doing this with heavier fabrics). I ran it on a 40 degrees cotton wash with the dye and then did another wash with detergent. As you can guess, the dye came out splotchy (especially on the base slipcover, not so much on the cushion covers). This was entirely my fault- I knew I’d risk an uneven distribution of the dye by not separating the covers into separate washes, but I’m impatient and couldn’t help myself. I then decided to ‘overdye’ the base cover and bought one more pod, but this time I ran it on a quicker wash, at a lower heat (30 degrees). I did this to try and prevent too much darkening of the colour, overall, and hoped that a shorter and less hot wash would just cover the lighter parts of the splotches. When this wash had finished, the dye was still splotchy and I noticed undissolved ‘rocks’ of dye on the slipcover. As dylon state in their instruction manual, the wash needs to be at 40 degrees… this is clearly not a lie (well done (: ). I then decided the only thing to do was to wash it all again (with the undissolved dye in the drum of the machine) at a 40 degree cotton wash. Unfortunately, the over-dye didn’t really work, but had I initially I separated the sheets into 2 washes, I’m 100% sure it would have resulted in a lovely even coverage. I also think doing the re-dye at a higher temp and longer wash would have improved the results. It’s a beautiful and rich colour and it is has taken well to a large proportion of the slip covers (despite my stupid attempts to try and short cut my way through the whole process). I think that says a lot for how good the dye actually is. I’m considering buying a fixative- removing all the dye from the base cover- and then redoing it with another pod. Will definitely buy again but will make sure to stick to the instructions.

I love Dylon dyes, and use them regularly, mainly for their simplicity, efficiency, and range of colours. I bought this particular colour to dye some vests and thermals, as I don't wear white or navy blue. Although the navy blue vest is now a gorgeous deep purple as expected, the white vest and thermal top are bright red, not pink at all. It doesn't really matter on this occasion, as they are base layer garments, but anyone looking to dye a more visible item pink should choose another shade!

Worked great, but stained the rubber seal on my washer. I had to wash around the rubber seal a few times and run the machine empty at least 4 times before I stopped seeing dye come away when I wiped at the seal (which is still stained hot pink) But, the dye results themselves on the two clothing items were fantastic. I dyed a white mixed fiber jumper and a pure linen top which was faded red. The linen came out really vibrant and the blended fiber jumper came out lighter but still pretty. Big improvement! So I recommend it but with reservations.

I have a few white T-shirts I wanted to liven-up, I bought this Dylon, easy instructions & to use, in the machine with the dye... Perfect results! No patchiness, the T-shirts look really nice. Well pleased with results.