HELP!

We had our first dress rehearsal last night for Katie's Wizard of Oz musical.  It was the first time I would be able to get to see her costume finished.  The costume ladies were going to take a Halloween costume and cut off the head, add a few panels in to allow air to circulate through and dye/spray it brown. 

When I got there last night, nothing had been done to it. 

There's only 2 women making ALL the costumes for everyone in the musical.  They are swamped.  And believe me, when you get to see pictures of all the costumes....which are coming....you'll be impressed.  BUT I'm still upset that 5 days before the first show, I now have to worry about Katie's costume.  She tried it yesterday for a bit.  45 minutes in and she was beet red, about to fall over.  I took her out, talked to the costume lady who immediately chopped off the head, feet, and hands.  Ok - that's a start.

Katie work it again for the run through and was still red an hour into it.  And yes, she'll get a break during intermission....I can take it off, BUT it's not like we do this show once and that's it.  We do it 4 times in 3 days, so I'd like to make her as comfortable as possible. 

I said I would take it home and do what I can to it. 

As we speak, I'm giving the entire suit a "haircut".  With the amount of hair I'm chopped off this thing, I think I could make 10 more dogs.  And that's only the backside.  Once I get all the "hair" off that I want....I'm going to cut about 3 inches off under the arms, from the wrist down to the waist.  Then, I'll sew in cotton pieces...that should help.  I'm thinking I'll also cut off 3 inches in the inner leg area, from the crotch down on both sides and sew in the same material.  If nothing else, it'll be easier to move in.

Then the problem.....turning it brown. 

It was suggested to me to use the Halloween hair spray that people use to turn their hair crazy colors.  First problem - brown isn't that crazy so I can't find it in any stores.  Second problem - the guy at Party City told me that the stuff rubs off like crazy and gets everywhere.  I do NOT want Dorothy's white and blue checkered dress brown from her dog.

I can't use Rit dye or any thing like that because the suit is all polyester, and unnatural fibers don't soak up the dye.  I don't want to use regular "spray paint" because it would be irritating to Katie's skin and mat all the hair together in clumps.

Worst case, I guess it gets left white and blue (yes, the damn thing has blue spots).  Trouble is, I already made her stinking ears brown.  Yes, yes, I know - dogs are all kinds of colors.

So help me out, crafty brainstormers.....have any of you used the colored hair dye?  Does it rub off badly?  ( I am testing a patch out in the garage right now cuz I was able to find black color....not sure how long I have to let it set.)

What else can I use to color it brown/black???

Oh, and I was told she now has to have black socks and black shoes.  Black socks are do-able...but where they hell have you seen plain black shoes for little kids?  It's too late to order anything, so I'm taking a sharpie to an old semi-black pair of sandals and praying they fit her.