Name: Susan
Message: How do I tie dye with two different colors? What I'm doing is rubber banding the clothing and have purple and pink that I want to dye. Please help!   

Two different colors of what? All-purpose dye? Throw the all-purpose dye in the trash, and save your rubber-banded garments until you get some real dye.

Is your clothing 100% cotton? Polyester can't be tie-dyed by a novice (and most experts refuse to dye polyester at all).

Mail-order some fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, or go to a good crafts store and buy a Jacquard brand tie-dye kit, or one made by Dritz, Tulip, or Rainbow Rock. (Do NOT buy a Rit brand tie-dye kit.) All-purpose dye is not as good as fiber reactive dye and will gradually wash out in the laundry, fading dreadfully and ruining the rest of your clothing.

For more information, see the following pages:
"How to Dye" at http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/howtodye.shtml
"How to Tie Dye" at http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/howtotiedye.shtml

If you really want to tie-dye with Rit brand dye, you will have to boil your shirts in the dyebath for half an hour for each color. See "How to Tie Dye with All Purpose Dye". Be sure to mail-order some Retayne or another commercial dye fixative to improve the washfastness of your all-purpose dye. Household products such as salt, vinegar, and soda ash will do nothing to make all-purpose dye washfast on cotton.


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