Dyeing PVC Plastic Doll Shoes

 I bought some PVC (hard plastic) doll shoes that I thought were black, but when they came, I found they were gray.  I had an outfit in mind that I specifically wanted black shoes for, so gray was not going to work.  I looked online about dying the shoes.  Some websites said that the dye would transfer onto other things.  But I think they used the wrong dye.   Rit has dye that is specifically for synthetic fiber, such as plastic.  So I contacted Rit and they said that there's no reason that it would transfer.  So I gave it a try...

(*Update: some dye DID transfer to the socks and when stored with other shoes, it transferred to those shoes. The shoes it transferred to were white, so I was able to use zit cream to remove it.)

Things to keep in mind: 👉You MUST use Rit DyeMore for SYNTHETIC materials. The regular Rit dye will only work on cotton. 👉You CANNOT go from dark to light colors, only from light to dark. 👉The directions say to keep at boiling point, but I removed from burner so that the shoes would not melt. PVC melts at 185 degrees F. Boiling water is 212 degrees F.

You'll need:

• an old pan and tongs that you won't be using for cooking
• dish soap
• salt
• vinegar
• Rit DyeMore

I used 10 cups of water to allow enough to cover the shoes, and 1/3 cup of Graphite Rit DyeMore.

Add all ingredients (as shown on the bottle) to the pan and bring to a boil.  Once it starts to boil, remove it from the heat and wait for it to stop boiling before adding the shoes.

Add the shoes and stir occasionally.  The directions say to leave it in for at least a half hour.  I left them in for an hour.  Then rinse with cool water.

They turned out perfect!  Bonus, the hot water straightened out the warped shoe.

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