I bought a grey waistcoat the other day and need to dye it brown for an Edward Elric cosplay (I couldn't find a brown waistcoat to save my life) Also I need to dye a Blazer blue for my Haruhi Ouran high School host club cosplay (Not got the blazer yet)

Does anyone have any tips on dying clothes... because I have no clue. And were can I buy clothes dye?

Dying clothes is pretty easy ^_^
try your fabric shpo first and if they dont have any go to tesco they have it sometimes and all you have to do with most of them is put the block in the washing machine and then wash it =D

i hope that was some help> >_<

Thankyou I'm a total newb at all this so I appriciate the help. I'll pick some clothes dye when I go out next time.

Do I need to bleach the clothes at all? Like if I end up having to get a black blazer?

I've only dyed a few items of clothing, but the best results were when I used Dylon machine wash. It doesn't damage your washing machine at all (so you don't have to worry about that ) and gives a really even colour. When I tried hand dyeing I was left with a few patches where it obviously hadn't been 'swished around' enough. (So maybe that's just me being crap, you might have better luck!)

The first thing though is to look at the label of your waistcoat - what is it made out of? Cotton takes colour very well, but for nylon and man-made materials you need special dyes. Work out exactly what it is first, and then go hunting for the correct dye - the people in my local fabric shop were really helpful when I went in looking very clueless.

Lastly, keep in mind that the colour the garment is before will effect the outcome - if you are dyeing something already dark, it will pick up colour but won't be lightened. If you want to change the colour dramatically I suggest buying a colour stripper, which pretty much bleaches it white/creamish. Then you have a clean base to work from Dylon also sell these (as Neko Chan said above, try your fabric shop and then somewhere like Tescos, you shouldn't have any trouble finding any.)

P.S. For the colour stripper, it may take the colour out of the material, but if nylon thread was used the sewing lines will remain dark! I'm guessing that's not too much of a worry for the colour you are going for though!

As I said I haven't done a lot, but hopefully this might help

I used Dylon fabric dye to gradient dye my Yuna; it was pretty easy. That was the hand-dying stuff though rather than the machine-dying kit, which may be more suitable for your needs.

One thing I would check though - the dye I used required a certain amount of salt to be mixed in, I believe this was to "fix" the dye (although it was a while back so I can't remember clearly!). If you do the machine-dying, check the instructions to see if they recommend putting salt into the machine. The fabric shop where I got my stuff also sold special salt for use with the dye, but I think plain old table salt is fine too.

lol sorry have no knowledge in dyes BUT if you do use a clothing dye remember to put on some gloves!!! cos the dyes take for ever to get off XD

only dyed a couple things (poorly. i'm a costume seemstress not a textile person dammit!) but all i know is that elasticated straps etc etc don't take dye!
be careful! ^^

well, I dyed quite a lot of fabric..
first, keep in mint that if the colur black, don't hope it'll work, just go out there and find something light color, white is the best, but, some off white will do, is it's like light blue, or pink, you will get the result as combined color from the fabric and the dye color. since you're hoping for brow, try to find white, or khaki, creme, colors like that.
when you already got the dyeing powder (if you're using powder, read the instruction and find out how many water's needed to be added.), add the water (usually I use a bucket), throw in the fabric, make sure all surface had contact with water. wait up for 40 (more or less) minutes first, and then take it out, dry it (not with machine dryer, just hang it in the open), see the color, keep in mind that the color while it's wet will change to a notch lighter when it's dried, if it's dark enough, then you're done, if it's note, put it back in the bucket and wait for another 30-40 minutes depends on how much darker you want it to be.

if you put in the whole clothing usually the color on the seams wont change so much, so if you can, it would be better if you can detach the pieces and re-sew them back after you're done dyeing it.

hope that helps.

Thankyou everyone, I took all your advice and today dyed my jacket. It took about an hour and I dyed it using a bucket
It worked out great and I got a really even look. Tomorrow I'm gunna put my badge on it.

One over thing you might want to be aware of; if the stitching is Nylon or something man-made, the dye won't take to it and it will be much more noticeable.