Removing red t-shirt dye from clothes?


"My daughter threw a wet red t-shirt on her dirty clothes pile. Now a pair of khaki shorts and a turquoise shirt have red splotches all over them, any suggestions of how to get this out appreciated. I have already soaked in cold water and borax, no luck though, thanks."

To remove unwanted dye transfers, use HOT water. The dye is less attracted to the fiber when it is hot.

If washing in hot water doesn't work, try soaking it in hot water. If that doesn't work, then you can buy some Rit Color Remover and use it in the washing machine, but that's more trouble and bears a risk of removing some of the original color. The khaki shorts will probably retain their color in the Rit Color Remover, but the turquoise top might lose its color.

Update: "Wow, the hot water worked like a charm, of course washing both separately I added a little detergent and some cascade, soaked in the hot water for 30 minutes and both garments look like new, thanks so much."

(Please help support this web site. Thank you.)

[This answer was first posted, by me, on Yahoo answers, on June 8, 2008.]

Posted: Friday - June 20, 2008 at 09:25 AM          

Follow this blog on twitter here.



Home Page ]   [ Hand Dyeing Top ]   [ Gallery Top ]   [ How to Dye ]   [ How to Tie Dye ]   [ How to Batik ]   [ Low Water Immersion Dyeing ]   [ Dip Dyeing ]   [ More Ideas ]   [ About Dyes ]   [ Sources for Supplies ]   [ Dyeing and  Fabric Painting Books ]   [ Links to other Galleries ]   [ Links to other informative sites ] [ Groups ] [ FAQs ]   [ Find a custom dyer ]   [ search ]   [ contact me ]  


© 1999-2011 Paula E. Burch, Ph.D. all rights reserved