Name: Payne

Message: I am currently trying to tie dye t-shirts for a school science project. Do you know of any formulas for tie dying t-shirts that I can make myself at home?

If you want tie-dyed t-shirts that hold on to the dye throughout a number of launderings, you will need to buy a good kind of dye. It's better not to buy all-purpose dye; instead, buy some fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. The best way to buy this dye is by mail-order, but if that is impractical due to being in a hurry, you will need to try to find a local source. If your local crafts store or sewing store does not carry Jacquard Procion MX dye, look for Tulip brand tie-dye kits, or Dylon Permanent Dye, or Dylon Cold Water Dye. Avoid tie dye kits that contain all-purpose dye.

Having purchased good fiber reactive dye (not all-purpose dye!), you can then follow any of the cool water fiber reactive dye recipes on this site, such as How to Dye with Fiber Reactive Dye, How to Batik, How to Tie Dye, and How to Dye with Low Water Immersion.

If you are determined to dye your t-shirts at home without buying a good quality synthetic dye, you have set yourself a much more difficult problem. You can dye wool yarn with food coloring (which makes a fine science project), but you must not try to dye cotton with food coloring. It will not stick to the fabric; you will not be dyeing your shirts, only staining them. If you want to try dyeing with food coloring, go and buy some wool yarn, or at least a silk scarf. You could compare how well wool yarn takes food coloring dye to how poor a cotton yarn takes food coloring dye, for a better science fair project.

You should avoid trying to dye polyester or acrylic. These synthetic fibers cannot be dyed with the same dyes that we use on cotton, silk, or wool. Rayon, although it is semi-synthetic, is dyed exactly like cotton, and nylon, although it is a true synthetic, can be dyed like wool. Do not attempt to dye any synthetic fiber besides rayon and nylon, or you will be disappointed.

Natural dyes require a complex process called mordanting to be done before you attempt to apply the dye to cotton. The best method for cotton is a three-day process. On the first day, you boil the cotton t-shirt for half an hour with alum, prepared according to a reliable natural dyeing recipe; on the second, you boil the same shirt with tannins; on the third day, you repeat the alum procedure from the first day. On the fourth day, you then boil your premordanted shirt with an equal weight of a natural dyestuff, such as tree bark or flowers, or the recommended (smaller) quantity of a dye extract such as cochineal.

As you can see, using synthetic dyes that you have purchased is a vastly simpler procedure, far more suitable to a beginning dyer. Natural dyes are aesthetically pleasing, just knowing exactly where you got the dye, but they require more skill and more practice.

An exception to the rule that cotton must be premordanted before dyeing with a natural dye is turmeric, a yellow spice used in curries and in mustard mixtures. A jar from the spice department of your grocery store should be sufficient to dye one or two shirts. Just boil them for half an hour in water containing a large amount of turmeric. The reason why turmeric is not commonly used as a dye is because it fades in the light. Dyeing two shirts with turmeric and exposing one to bright sunlight for several days, while hiding the other away in a dark place, might make a nice science project. You should see a difference in color after a few days of sunlight.

If you are going to dye cotton t-shirts at home using natural dyes, you will need to acquire a good book of recipes that tell you exactly how to do it. I recommend A Dyer's Companion, by Dagmar Klos, for its excellent mordanting recipes.

Also see "FIXING NATURAL DYES FROM WALNUTS, GOLDENROD, SASSAFRAS AND POKE WEED IN COTTON - DO I USE UREA OR SODA ASH?", answered in this blog on October 5, 2006.

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