Can you tie dye Cotton Sateen?

Name: Mark

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Country or region: Minnesota

Message: Can you tie dye Cotton Sateen?

Sure, you can tie-dye cotton sateen. Sateen is a very smooth weave. As long as it's made of an easily dyeable fiber such as cotton, you should be fine.

There is one caveat. Cotton sateen that has been treated to be wrinkle-resistant may not take the dye as well as untreated cotton sateen. It's common for cotton sateen sheets to have wrinkle-resistant treatments. You can still dye the wrinkle-resistant ones, but the colors might not be as smooth or as intense. Still highly worth doing, and cotton sateen has a very nice feel. If you ever see something advertised as being stain-resistant, though, don't even try to dye it.

Be sure to pick decent dyes for tie-dyeing. Do not use Rit all-purpose dye, unless you're using only a single color and don't care about how well it survives laundering. What you need is fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. This is the kind of dye used in good tie-dyeing kits, such as the Jacquard Tie Dye Kit. For a much wider choice of different colors, you can order your dye online or by phone from a good dye supplier such as Colorado Wholesale Dyes, Aljo Mfg, PRO Chemical & Dye, or Dharma Trading Company. (See "Where to Buy Dyes & Dyeing Supplies".)

Weigh your cotton sateen fabric, while it is still dry. This will help you decide how much dye you need to use. A six-pound set of cotton sheets requires approximately the same amount of dye as twelve adult size XL t-shirts, so one large tie-dyeing kit will do, or two or three small ones, depending on the brand of tie-dyeing kit. (See "How much Procion MX dye should I use?".)

You'll need dye and soda ash, rubber bands or artificial sinew, and waterproof gloves. Urea is optional. Follow the recipe that comes with your kit, or see my page, "How to Tie Dye".

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Posted: Wednesday - May 02, 2012 at 11:08 AM

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