Are you sure that's what you want to do?
If you want brightly dyed cotton shirts, you should always use
fiber reactive dye, rather than all-purpose dye. All-purpose dyes, such as Rit® Tint And Dye, Tintex® High Temp Dye, and
other brands, can never be as
bright or long-lasting as fiber reactive dyes, when used on
cotton or other cellulose fibers.
Rit® brand dye, like all brands of all-purpose dye, is a
mixture of two kinds of dyes - an acid dye, which will
just wash out of cotton, since acid dyes work only on animal fibers
such as wool, or on nylon (but not on other synthetics) - and a direct
dye, which is duller in color and bleeds a bit with every single
washing, forever, unless a mail-order permanent dye fixative
such as Retayne® is applied.
This is a fine idea for nylon fabric,
though! The acid dyes in all-purpose dye are more satisfactory than the
cotton dye in all-purpose dye, and acid dye can usually dye nylon.
All-purpose dye requires a completely different recipe from fiber
reactive dyes. Do not follow the recipes found elsewhere on
this web site! They work only with fiber reactive dye.
All forms of all-purpose dye, including Rit® Tint and Dye,
Tintex® High Temp Dye, DEKA L® Hot Water Dye, and Dylon® Multi-Purpose Dye, require heat to
attach to fabric. This means that
the usual tie-dye squirt bottle technique is right out: it simply will not
work properly. For instructions, see the Rit Dye web
site - but be sure to first acquire some Retayne® or a similar
product to make the color permanent! (See below.)
Instructions are also given below, as the Rit®
web site was unavailable for most of 2002. They are
much more cumbersome than using fiber reactive dye, but if
you insist on using all-purpose dye, you'll be far better off using the
correct instructions:
Retayne® can fix Rit® dye
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Rit Tie Dye Kit
Tie. First tie the shirt as usual.
Gloves and tongs. Wear thick rubber, vinyl,
or silicone gloves for the following steps, to protect you
from the potential toxicity of the dye and to help protect you against
the scalding hot water. Use tongs to hold the garment
partially submerged in the scalding hot dyebath, but be
sure that they are rustproof, as rust can ruin your
project. Chrome-plated kitchenware is particularly prone to rust.
Prepare dyebaths. Following the package
instructions carefully, prepare a separate dyebath, by
mixing dye with water and salt, in a cooking pot (which is
NOT to be used for food again, as the dye is not safe for
human consumption) for each color of dye.
Heat. Each pot must be
heated to be quite hot, preferably to a simmer (190-200
degrees Fahrenheit, or 87-93 degrees Celsius), not as hot as
a full boil, for the dye to make its best
association with the fiber.
Salt. Include the full amount of salt
recommended, ideally an
amount that weighs half as much as the weight of the fabric
being dyed.
Vinegar is neither necessary nor
helpful for dyeing cotton with all-purpose dye, but should
be used when dyeing nylon or dyeing animal fibers such as
wool. The manufacturers of Tintex® High Temp all-purpose dye recommend the use of 1 cup (250 ml) of white vinegar per 10 liters of water when dyeing wool, silk, or nylon.
Dipping the fabric in the dyebath. For multiple colors on one garment, the garment must be only
partially submerged
in each dye color. Dip the tied disk of the shirt partially into the simmering
dye + water mixture. For pastel colors, you can hold the disk of fabric
partially submerged for as little as four minutes, but for bright or dark
colors, up to thirty minutes is recommended. BE
CAREFUL - hot water can inflict serious burns!
Cooler water will not provide long-lasting or
bright results, however.
Rinsing. After the fabric has been partially immersed in one color for long enough,
remove it from the dye bath and rinse the freshly dyed portion with cool water
until you see no more dye in the water that runs off. Use a
towel to squeeze out
as much of the remaining water as you can.
Repeat the above steps with another portion of the shirt, to apply a different
color of dye, overlapping partially, if you like, to get a
mixed-color region. Alternatively, traditional tie-dye
involves dropping the tied garment into the simmering
dyebath for the full recommended time, then untying, washing out and
applying ties in another design, and dropping into a
different color of dyebath.
Finishing. Remove the ties or rubber bands and rinse the shirt out with cool water. Finish
by washing with a special dye fixative such as Retayne, as
otherwise the dye will gradually wash out every time you
wash it. For best results,
anything dyed with all-purpose dye should be considered
hand-washable in cool water,
though machine washing is okay after Retayne has been used.
(Are you sure you wouldn't rather use cold water fiber
reactive dyes, with the safe, quick, easy squirt bottle
technique?)
After dyeing with all-purpose dye, be sure to finish your dyeing by applying a
product to prevent it from running with every wash. Such products
include Retayne®, Dharma Dye Fixative®, and Aljo Pro-fix PCD®
after-treatment. These products are sometimes available at
your local quilting supply store, but usually must be
purchased by mail;
see Sources for
Supplies. Retayne® is a cationic bulking agent that
essentially glues the dye into the fiber, making the washfastness of even
direct dyes quite acceptable. It will also prevent any further dye from getting
to the fabric, so don't use this product until you are sure that you
don't want to dye the fabric again.
Procion MX is the best dye for cotton or rayon.
see more answers to dye FAQs