Hi Marniesews,
As you probably know - dye makes a kind of molecular bond with the fibre and usually needs a chemical and or heat catalyst. Paint sits on top of the fibre, kind of glued to it.
For painting I think Jacquard Dye-na-flow would be good, its a very thin paint. If used with their Air Fix product you dont have to heat fix it.
If you want to dye it, Idye poly is for polyester and I think it dyes other synthetics too. You have to use heat and dye in a pot on the stove - you cant paint it.
I havent used dye-na-flow on very much and only tested it on lace. It makes it a bit stiff and the lace looses some of its lustre. But, because its paint its easy to use and mixcolours.
Acid dye is great with nylon but I dont think much lace is nylon.
so thats my 10 pence worth, Im
no expert, ive just played around and experimented alot. There are some good books out there in dyeing if u go down that route.
Ive also tested procion type dyes on viscose and cotton lace - they can also be painted on but there is a bit of prep & some other chemicals to use - try googling procion dyes + lace