[LunaYusema]

Ok so, I bought these red cotton pants that I would like to dye black. I tried using Rit dye for the washer, I ended up with a maroon color. I tried this in the washer like three times, same result. Then I bought Dylon and tried that with the tub method. It got a little darker, maybe dark purple. It was actually black when it dried, but when I washed it, it lost the color and stayed that dark purple. It did not turn black, which is what I wanted. Is there anything I'm doing wrong? I followed the instructions. Please help.

[cactusmomma]

Try using 3 or so packets of Dylon black (2 packets, let them soak in goooooood, then try the third after). Rit isn't strong enough!

[Hooked On Chibis!]

The biggest problem that I can see is that you've started with red pants. Fabric dye isn't perfectly opaque, and will mix with whatever color is already in the fabric (which is why you get maroon/purple pants; the red isn't being erased by the black). In addition, red's a strong color dye-wise, and it usually takes more applications of paint/dye to get a truly vivid red color on anything, so those red pants were probably REALLY full of dye before you started ... leaving nowhere for the black dye to set up shop.

What I'd do at this point:
Option 1: Buy new cotton pants and start over. Buy white ones this time, though, or something really pale (like a light pink, or light blue) so the black won't have to compete with the existing color.
Option 2: Buy fabric dye remover and bleach those pants clean, and start over. This will probably deteriorate the crap out of the fabric, though, since it's already been dyed twice (red, then black) - but like with hair, it's best to bleach the old color out before putting the new color in.
Option 3: Buy another pair of the red pants, AND dye remover, and bleach the pants before dyeing them black.

If you're running out of time/money, there's also option 4: Keep washing and re-dyeing the fabric. If the Dylon dried to black but then lost its color when washed, try the Dylon one more time and see what happens after washing. VERY IMPORTANT though, don't decide to dye-and-wear. You'll get black on absolutely everything in the universe, most of all on yourself

Hope this helps ^^;

[LunaYusema]

This was helpful thinks. I guess I'm going to have to buy black pants. I kinda didn't want to do that, but I am low on time as you probably guessed. But this is helpful for next time. I should have bleached them first. >-o