Name: Jane
Message: Would a Tintex fabric dye work on 50% poly/50% cotton bed sheets - I don't see this question listed. Thank you.

Tintex fabric dye is one brand of all-purpose dye, and will color cotton. There are several problems that you will encounter with all-purpose dye, though:
1. It is not very washfast on cotton.
2. Like most dyes, it does not dye polyester at all.
3. It requires heat to attach to cotton, wool, and nylon, but the temperature that can be reached in a washing machine is far below the temperature that gives best results.
4. If all-purpose dye is used in a cooking pot on top of the stove, the pot should not be used for food again, as the dye is not food safe.
5. All-purpose dye costs about six times as much as mail-order fiber reactive dye, per pound of fabric dyed, to obtain a similar depth of shade.

A better choice for cellulose fibers, including cotton, is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX, Cibacron F, or Drimerene K. (The Tintex Dye Company of Australia sells all-purpose dye as Tintex High Temp and good fiber reactive dye as Tintex Low Temp.) These dyes can be used in warm water, rather than hot water, so they are much more convenient to use. Tap water is hot enough, so a cooking pot need not be used. They work very well in a washing machine. Fabric dyed with fiber reactive dye, once it has been set properly with soda ash, will not fade quickly the way that fiber dyed with all-purpose dye will. After the excess dye has been washed out with first cold and then hot water, fabric dyed with fiber reactive dye does not bleed onto other garments in the laundry, unlike all-purpose dye.

Even fiber reactive dye cannot dye the polyester in your sheets, though, and the type of dye that will, which is called disperse dye, is not a good choice for novice dyers. The result of dyeing 50% cotton 50% polyester sheets with fiber reactive dye is pastel colors. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however. One can get quite nice results on 50% cotton, as long as pastel tints are acceptable. By using a large amount of dye, one can get darker shades, though they will never be as bright or intense as those obtained on fabric that contains at least 80% cotton (or other fibers including linen, silk, rayon, or lyocell [Tencel]).