I need your help. My mom has accidentally bleached my new sweatshirt. I was wondering, if it is possible to dye the shirt without ruining the shirt. The print on this shirt is not embroidered, but the kind that can sometimes flake off. Is it still ok to dye this shirt?

You can safely dye this shirt if you use cold water fiber reactive dye, in room temperature water (70 to 100 degrees F). You should not dye it with all-purpose dye, such as Rit dye, because it is possible that the print might be colored by the acid dye it contains. The plastic of the design should be completely unaffected by fiber reactive dye.

There are several different brands of fiber reactive dye. It is difficult to find in local crafts stores. Sometimes a local crafts store will carry Jacquard MX dye, which is excellent. Dylon Cold Water dye is fine, too, but not Dylon Multi-Purpose dye (which is all-purpose dye). If you can't find it locally, you should mail-order Procion MX dye from one of the companies listed on my "Sources for Supplies" page. You can order it as a 'tie dye kit', or you can order just a jar of dye and some soda ash (also known as dye activator), and buy salt locally, if you are doing washing machine dyeing.

If you want to dye your shirt a solid color, you may want to do your dyeing in the washing machine. Pro Chemical & Dye provides instructions for "Immersion Dyeing in the Home Washing Machine using PRO MX Reactive Dyes"; Dharma Trading Company provides similar instructions for "The Vat (Washing Machine, Tub, Bucket) Dye Method". (I always omit the Calsolene Oil in the latter recipe because its warning label requires safety precautions that seem like too much trouble to me, and I get great results without it.)