Without seeing photos, Champagne is lighter and muddier than yellow. I honestly don’t think you’ll be able to add color and get as light and the tone I’m picturing. My suggestion would be to add a brown, or tan would be better. I’m not sure what colors they even make. You wouldn’t need to dye it long I’m sure. The end result will most likely end up darker though because you’re adding dye.

GREIGE? if I aimed for greige ....... Do you think lavender dye might get it to Grey Beige?

Houzz is not letting me post pic. Damn!

Partim thank you! I cannot access RIT website from my iPad and the customer service has not returned my call. Thank you for the confirmation.

DK,,,,try posting here in comments. you may have to resize the photo though.

Actually, now that I think on it....my TAP WATER turned the piece yellow. As I drained the hot water remover solution out of the pot, the garment was still light orange. It turned bright yellow as I added cool tap water to rinse it . My tap water looks colorless . .?.

Thank you Beth. Houzz works for me one day and then not. Today is a NOT day, unless the pic is a Houzz pic already loaded.

Have you tried regular chlorine bleach on a sample to try to remove the yellow color? The Rit color remover is gentler on fabrics because it doesn't contain chlorine bleach.

I have not used the chlorine bleach yet. It is so harsh to fabrics and will turn white silk yellow (Pretty undergarment accident years ago)

The orange faded with color remover.

The cool TAP WATER rinse caused it to turn YELLOW immediately. At first, I thought the dye was just rinsing out-. Nope,.Yellow.

I'm totally confused, because my hairstylist always said red was a larger color molecule -hard to get in the hair (dyeing red hair- quick fading) and hard to lift out of the hair (bleaching to blonde) Yes, I know human hair is not fabric, but BOTH are carbon-based organic compounds. Hmmm...

If you've ever dyed your hair red, you'll know that red hair dye fades noticeably faster than any other color. From the Garnier hair color site The red hair molecule is larger than other color molecules, so it doesn’t penetrate the cortex of the hair as deeply as other color molecules. Therefore, since it isn’t as deep, it can wash out easier.

Why don't you try the color remover again to see if the yellow will lighten?

I discovered the hand embroidery around the tiny mirrors and the fringed tassels are SILK, which will yellow with chlorine.. Apparently, chlorine is in my tap water. I wish that I studied textile design ugh!

this led to some research- did you know that "Cancer risk among people drinking chlorinated water is 93% higher than among those whose water does not contain chlorine.” http://www.bioray.com/content/Chlorine.pdf

Oh joy!

i believe chloramines are in all tap water?? no? they have to for bacteria.

any way you can dye the tassels, maybe a darker accent color?

Rit Color Remover is CRAZY

I tried a second attempt. As soon as my now yellow fabric hit the remover solution it turned ORANGE - AGAIN!! ???

True, it is a lighter orange than I started with originally, but it is the same shade of orange I had when I ended my first attempt, before I rinsed it with tap water. For fun, I tried Deioinized water to see of that would have an effect, but it doesn't. This is so weird. I plan to keep it on the stove tonight until I go to sleep.

Would be great if RIT would return my email and voice messages to their "help" line.

Upon adding cold water, after simmering on the stove for four hours- back to Big Bird Yellow.

How about try rinsing and dying in distilled water - no chlorines etc in it.

Not a pro.

In my experience, the problem with chlorine bleach is that it can also "rot" the fabric from which it removes color and it can remove color unevenly -- especially if part of the fabric rises above the surface of the liquid and the rest is below the surface or if you have thick/think parts or seams ... so if you try that, don't leave it for very long.

Would you be able to "catch" a bucket of rainwater? or just go get a bucket of lake or creek water (and boil it before using it for your project)?

Alcohol cam usually remove most fresh ink.

Peroxide can usually remove most fresh blood.

Butane lighter fluid can help remove most glue.

Soaking fabric in Mr. Clean can get out serious stains on stark white -- emphasis on serious stains (as in including dye from other fabrics that touched it while wet.) -- stains laundry soap doesn't but without removing color, however, I'm not sure how it would work on fabric already treated with dye remover..

If you run out of other options, you might try these "chemicals" (perhaps just on different corners) to see if they have any effect.

dyeing, bleaching, coloring fabric is really hard to do at home. I've had a ton of practice and still *rarely* get it right with Rit or iDye. fabrics that are dyed commercially look good because they have massive industrial setups. and unfortunately, the chemicals that work better are ones that are pretty scary.

Reds/oranges/yellows are the hardest colors to get out. "color removers" are only meant to fade enough that you can put a new color on top of it. and your results are going to wildly vary depending on what was used to dye it before, and what the fabric is. you're probably never going to achieve fading all the way to champagne unless you use an aggressive amount of chlorine bleach. worse, if you try to add violet or something to tone down bright yellow, you'll probably end up with something muddy and bad. and/or damage your fabric the more you treat it. (similar principals apply when people try to bleach and dye hair.)

you might either embrace the color as-is or pick a dye that will work with the yellow undertone.

maybe it's time for you to decide that piece of fabric is better off in a different room and buy a new piece that's already the color you want.

I've used the RIT dye -- the liquid and the powder -- and neither gave me perfect result. I also find that RIT dye remover likely only is intended to remove RIT dye -- and it doesn't always do that.

I feel like Rit basically needs to be reserved for costumes and tye dye.

B F :

Agreed. Even the black will not dye evenly or stay black even if washed only in cold water..

Since nothing has worked, my suggestion is to look online for another fabric you like and start over. Here are a couple of ideas. Not very expensive. You can also get the mirrors and other findings to make belly dance scarves, etc.

Baluchi dressafghan embroidered boho's gypsy antique | Etsy · More Info

Banjara patch yoke afghani dress yoke Traditional Art | Etsy · More Info

It's important to know the fiber content of any fabric you want to dye or remove color from. The rules are vastly different for cotton than they are from silk. Chlorine bleach will indeed turn silk a yellowish color, but it will not have that effect on a cellulosic fabric/fiber, such as cotton, linen, jute, or rayon. Silk and wool are protein fibers and are hydrophobic (repel water) and oleophilic (love oil), whereas cellulosic fibers are the opposite: hydrophilic and oleophobic. Hydrophilic fibers are stronger when wet, but hydrophobic fibers are not. This is why it is better to wash hydrophilic fabric in water (providing they have been preshrunk) instead of dry cleaning them, and it is also why hydrophobic fabrics should be dry cleaned.

You could try going to a beauty supply shop and get some hair dye removal to try on your fabric, especially if it is not a cellulosic fiber.

Silk and cotton do not belong in the same category, even if they are both organic. Cotton is (C6 H10 O5)n, and silk is fibroin, composed of two protein chains.

Update: I gave up on champagne. I thought about " matching" my peacock mirror- an antique brass, but I was afraid of a "baby diaper color."

DH suggested I aim for gray, using pearl gray- I had reservations that it might turn green, due to the blue in pearl gray and the yellow base color, but I tried it anyway. Yup- Pearl Gray + Big Bird Yellow = pine green. Not happy, but at least my color instincts were correct.

Still wanting a color change, and wanting to neutralize e cool green, I Iused what I had in my possession- Dark brown. I thought the red in the brown would tone it down.

It doesn't exactly match the chocolate couch, but at least it is a true rich color.

Mirror reference that will hang over the chocolate couch and flanked by four frames, on this idea:

Item Of The Week: Peacock Mirror · More Info

Neo Mint, Celadon Jade, Woods, & Metallics · More Info

Lars-. Wow- thank you for the wealth of information! I truly appreciate it!!!

Ashtonchic- thank you for finding the alternates; it was very kind of you. I really wanted to put

the embroidered orange scarf to use, rather than donate it or continue to store it.

Suzebell & BF-

You can get rich colors with Rit Dye. I worked in motion picture costuming /wardrobe for years and our staff dyer only used Rit dyes. I think the trick in getting a rich color is using more dye than you think you really need, and cooking the fabric on the stovetop, not using a washing machine. I used a huge pot - Granite Ware Canner- 21qt, which I found for $5 at a thrift store, like this one, (Once you use a pot & wooden spoon to dye, do not use ithem for food.)

https://www.amazon.com/Granite-Porcelain-Water-Bath-Canner-21-5-Quart/dp/B0001UZL8A?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Thanks for the update!

You're welcome partim. I appreciate all the help that everyone was so gracious to share.

- still have concerns about my tap water turning a silk into a day-glow yellow color