Dyeing a quilt?

[Deleted]

I bought this quilt from Overstock for a good price. I used it before I finished my upholstered headboard. The headboard is much more of a warm gray than it looked on the bolt. The quilt needs to have more mustard to it. Can I dye it? It's cotton. How do I determine what color to add to it?

[mrs.jacinthe]

Whoo, boy. That's a tough one. Can you also post the headboard again? I think I need to see the colors side-by-side.

Also, you may find this helpful - I've used it in the past. www.ritdye.com/colorit_color_formula_guide#color_guide=2089

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This is the quilt with the headboard.

[Deleted]

And a close up

[mrs.jacinthe]

Hmmm, it sort of makes the headboard look purple, doesn't it. From the Rit guide, I'd probably do Yellow 3 #52 with that - it's a more "gold" yellow.

But I am having a thought. What if, instead of going all the way to dying, you tried switching up the pillow shams instead? I think that the yellow would make more sense/look better if it wasn't directly next to the headboard, KWIM? Maybe a white and gray ikat pattern or even just plain white. Heck, I think you could throw white and black together there too ...

[Deleted]

I will try that. I'm not sure if it will work only because the bed frame is also upholstered.

If I do dye, do I need to make any adjustments because the quilt is not white, or just go with the color on the chart?

[mrs.jacinthe]

As long as the entire quilt is 100% cotton (including the thread), you can either do a "strip" and get the original dye out or do some test runs, maybe on the shams. I've got no experience in dying previously dyed fabric, though, so I hope someone who knows more about this can pop in.

I'm also thinking that perhaps the wall color is throwing the whole thing off a bit. Are you attached to that paint or is it something you'd consider changing?

[Deleted]

Not at all attached to the paint color. That is probably better to try before dyeing. What color would you suggest? A warm grey or yellow or something totally different? I am not afraid of color.

[mrs.jacinthe]

Wall color may be tricky ... maybe a light gray or even white? I mean, there are a hundred colors that go with gray and yellow, but very few that I'd enjoy as a wall color in a bedroom.

If you want to go bold, you could probably pull off coral, a more turquoise-y blue, or even a navy.

[lys]

It might be easier to repaint the walls and add artworkt includes the headboard and quilt colors.

Get a SW color fan and see what works in your room/lighting/items/furniture etc.