Message: I am desperate to try to "put together" a dress for my daughters wedding.  Can I remove color from chiffon and re-dye it?  I would so appreciate an answer....thanks a million!

No, I'm sorry, you cannot.

You didn't specify what fiber your chiffon dress is made of, but it is most likely woven from polyester. It might instead be made of silk. Neither polyester nor silk should ever be treated with bleach, because bleach will destroy both fibers.

Rit Color Remover will sometimes work on silk chiffon, depending on what dye was used to color it (which cannot be predicted), but it will probably not work to remove color from polyester chiffon.

If your chiffon dress is woven from polyester, you will not be able to dye it. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes".

If the dress is made of silk chiffon, it can be dyed to a darker color than its current color, but it is probably sewn together with polyester thread, which will remain the color it is right now even after the dress is dyed. See "Why did the thread stay white?", from the FAQ section of my website.


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Name: Kathryn
Message: I tried to get some spots off my daughter's silk dress and took the color out in a troublesome patter in the torso area.  It is such a beautiful dress and has a sort of tie-dye effect that I'm afraid to attempt to correct it myself.  Do you know someone who I can send it to have it corrected?

There is a link to a list of custom dyers on my web site. For custom dyeing, it is almost invariably the case that you will have to mail your garment to the dyer, as you will be unable to find a custom dyeing service locally. Look at my list of custom dyers and use e-mail or the telephone to make arrangements.

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Name: gali  
Message: pls help me with a list of best books to be used for learning tie and dyeig and batik thanks

There is a page of reviews of books and videos about dyeing, including both tie-dyeing and batik, on my web site: see http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyeingbooks.shtml.

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Name: Neal
Message: I need some advice.  I vat-dyed a white, 100% viscose-rayon dress using a what I thought was an incredibly weak solution of Procion MX #12 (Light Red)---I intended to get a pastel but instead it came out a chemical, bubble-gum pink.    Bleach, I know, isn't good on rayon.  Is there anything I can use that will lighten the color evenly?  (this was an expensive dress).   Or am I better off dying the dress a darker color or living with it as is?

How weak was your dye solution? The last time I tried to get a pastel, I too obtained a color that was much brighter and more intense than I wanted. I think the right amount of dye to use to get a pale color is only one-tenth as much as usual, but I was using, I think, one-quarter as much dye as usual. PRO Chemical & Dye suggests using only 1 teaspoon, or 2.5 grams, of dye to produce a pale shade on one pound (454 grams) of cotton, but you must remember that both viscose rayon and mercerized cotton will produce markedly more intense colors than unmercerized cotton, because the cellulose in the more highly processed fiber is more accessible to the dye. Perhaps 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (or 0.6 to 1.3 grams) of red dye would be more appropriate for dyeing a pound of rayon to a pastel pink.

When this happened to me, I was dyeing a cotton PFD dress rather than rayon, and, when I tried to remove it, I used sodium hydrosulfite, which I purchased as Rit brand Color Remover. This product is sold in many places, right next to the little boxes of Rit brand all-purpose dye. You may also find it sold under the names Carbona Color Run Remover or Dylon Colour Stripper, depending on your location. A washing machine load requires anywhere from one to four boxes of Color Remover, depending on the size of the washing machine and the amount of color removal that is desired. The color I ended up with was much lighter than my original overly intense color, but it was an interesting brownish shade. You will often obtain interesting ghostly colors as the result of removing dye, colors which are different from the original dye color, not just lighter.

Your red dye, red MX-5B, should discharge better than the similarly-colored red MX-8B, which is commonly called fuchsia. It is expected to produce some sort of beige color, rather than the only somewhat lighter magenta produced by discharging fuchsia. Here is a link to an adaptation of Dharma's lists showing what colors are obtained by discharging from various MX dyes. 

Actually, hypochlorite (chlorine) bleach is not such a terrible thing for rayon. Rayon is tremendously fragile when wet, but it is being wet that makes rayon weak, rather than the bleach itself. This is in contrast to synthetics such as polyester and nylon, and animal fibers such as silk and wool, which are badly damaged chemically by exposure to bleach. A heavy rayon garment might tear upon being lifted from water, but careful treatment is usually sufficient to prevent damage. Placing it in a large mesh lingerie bag may be helpful. 

Whenever you use chlorine bleach, you must follow its use, after rinsing with water, by neutralizing the bleach chemically, using Anti-Chlor (the most economical answer, purchased by mail order from your dye supplier), or Bleach-Stop, hydrogen peroxide, or strong color-safe chlorine-free "oxygen" bleach, such as OxyBoost. You must not use an acid, such as vinegar, to neutralize chlorine bleach, because the reaction produces even more toxic and caustic compounds. The hydrogen peroxide that is sold as an antiseptic is fine for this purpose, but it is much more expensive pr use than Anti-Chlor. Properly neutralizing bleach on fabric will stop it from degrading the fabric further, and will prolong the life of the garment. There is no need to neutralize the sodium hydrosulfite found in Color Remover; it is gentler to the fabric than hypochlorite bleach, and will be removed simply by washing.

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Name: Linda

Message: I am interested in using color dyes that will not stain the skin. I want to use the dye for some kids activities; therefore, I need a good dye that is washable and easy for mums to remove. I don't want to have to use gloves. Is there any such product out there?

There is no textile dye that does not require the use of gloves. All dyes, except for food coloring, should be assumed to be toxic, even if the labels make claims that they are non-toxic, because it is highly unlikely that the dye has been properly tested for long-term safety. Even certified food coloring, which is safe when spilled on the skin, can stain the hands badly enough that it would be odd to do without gloves while using it.

High quality cool water dyes are easy to use with disposable gloves and aprons. Many people have worked with groups of children wearing gloves, to tie-dye using fiber reactive dyes such as Procion MX dye or Drimarene K dye. If this dye does get on the skin, it takes several days to wear off. However, the results on cotton with these dyes are far better than the results which can be obtained in any other way.

Food coloring can be used to dye wool or silk, but it cannot be used to dye cotton. It will just wash out of cotton, no matter what you do to try to fix it into the fabric. Dyeing wool yarn with food coloring is an excellent project for children. Heat is required, in the form of a microwave oven, or a steamer, or a black garbage bag (with the wet dyed yarn in it) left in a sunny window for several days. See "Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers".

There are some fabric paints whose labels make claims that they are non-toxic. It is still unwise to expose the skin repeatedly to large amounts of these paints; however, fabric paints that are labeled as non-toxic are much safer than paints which are colored with obvious poisons such as lead, cadmium, or chromium. Always wash all paints off immediately if they are spilled on bare skin. Most fabric paints must be fixed to the fabric, after drying, by pressing with a hot iron.

A very nice safe easy project for children involves the use of Iron-on Fabric Crayons, which contain a kind of dye which works only on synthetic fibers. The children color the dye crayons onto paper, then an adult uses a hot iron to transfer the design from the paper to polyester or nylon fabric. This project requires the special fabric dye crayons; it will not dye the fabric if you use ordinary wax crayons. See "Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dyes"; scroll down to "Novel forms of disperse dyes". Fabric crayons, unlike other forms of dye, do not generally stain the skin, because the dye they contain will not adhere to natural materials.

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Name: Virginia
Message: I love your work 
Happy Easter
I was wondering where you were able to get good prices on toddler snap crotch outfits T-shirts and could you give me some hints or numbers.  Thank you 

A good source for snap-crotch toddler outfits (tees and bubble rompers) would be iblankwear.com, which carries Rabbit Skins cotton clothing for sizes through 24 months; see their infants' clothing selections. This is a new company that is run by a friend, which I would like to support, and I always liked Rabbit Skins clothing when my children were small enough to wear them. Note that the white creepers are sewn with cotton thread, for better dyeing.

CheapesTees.com sells rib-knit Onesies through size 18 months, but these are most likely sewn with undyeable polyester thread.

Dharma Trading Company (dharmatrading.com) sells several different infant and toddlers' styles with snap crotches. Some of their styles are are sewn with cotton thread, for better dyeing.

You can also often find acceptable 100% cotton snap-crotch clothing in local discount department stores such as Target. The thread will remain undyed, since it is polyester, but the effect is usually just fine. Be sure to avoid anything with a stain-resistant finish, as stain-resistance means resistance to dyes as well. 100% cotton is by far the best. If you try to dye something that is 50% cotton/50% polyester, the resulting colors will be pastels, so you'll probably want to avoid using reds if you are dyeing for a boy, since people do not like to see boys wearing pink.

The most important tip, if you don't already know it, is to avoid all-purpose dye at all costs. It is not washfast, it is difficult to apply since it requires near-boiling water, and it is not as brilliant in color as fiber reactive dye. If you are just starting out, buy a tie-dye kit by mail-order any of the companies around the world that are listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page. These kits contain cool water fiber reactive dye that gives vastly better results. You can buy good Jacquard brand tie-dye kits in some crafts stores, but you should avoid all-purpose dye tie-dye kits, as they are not much good at all.

This is a wonderful fun way to make the most beautiful and inexpensive baby clothes! You will have a lot of fun.

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Name: Elisa
Message: Hi!  I've got a 100% cotton corduroy hat.  It is red.  I want to dye it black.  I don't want the dull black this website says I'll get with Rit, I want a rich, deep black.  What products should I buy for this small project?  Thanks, if you can find the time to send a reply.

I always recommend cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX dye, for dyeing cotton. Anther kind of dye which is similar, and good to use, is Cibacron F dye. Cibacron F has what some people say is a better black. You can buy it in a suitably small quantity by mail-order from PRO Chemical & Dye, or you can mail-order Procion MX dye from most of the companies around the world that are listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page. Dylon Cold Water dye ought to work reasonably well, unlike all-purpose dye; sometimes you can find it at your local fabric store or arts supply store.

AS a general rule, always use two to four times as much dye as usual when dyeing black. It is fine to apply black on top of any other color, as it will just make the black deeper and richer. If your hat ends up too reddish, you can always overdye it with a dark green, to get it closer to a true black.

You will also need to buy soda ash, or sodium carbonate, to fix the fiber reactive dye. If you choose to do the dyeing in the washing machine, you will need a large quantity of dye, and also ordinary salt. (This is an ideal dye for redyeing any black cotton clothing you have that has faded with use.) Or, you can dye it outside using the tie-dye recipe, though some sections may come out darker than others.

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Name: Kate
Message: I have a beautiful navy silk top.  I think it is Indian silk (if there is such a thing) it is very light and flowy, not shiny though.  My friend, thinking she was doing me a favour, decided to machine wash it (arrhh!) so as you can imagine most of the colour has come out of it.  I want to re-dye it back to navy (or as close as).  But the dyes I have found say that you can't use them on 'dry-clean' only fabrics.  What actually happens if you dye a 'dry-clean' only fabric - do you have any suggestions to save my top? Thanks

It sounds as though the silk itself came through the washing just fine; it just had an inferior, water-soluble dye. Perhaps the silk was not dry-clean-only, and only its dye was. If you always wash it gently, and never with heavy garments at the same time, it can probably be regarded as washable, if you use washfast dyes this time. 

If you think about it, people have been wearing silk for thousands of years, but dry cleaning was not invented until the nineteenth century. Well-dyed silk fabric should be washable in cool water. However, if a fabric is not prewashed before it is sewn into a garment, shrinkage may occur which might pull the seams out of shape, and linings almost invariably shrink to a different extent than the outer portion of a garment. This apparently was not a problem for your silk top.

The easiest way to dye silk is with the use of cool water fiber reactive dyes, such as Procion MX or Drimarene K dyes; see "Fiber Reactive Dyes for Cotton and Silk". You probably cannot buy this dye locally, but it is easy and economical to buy it by mail order; see my list of different companies around the world that sell dyes. To fix this dye in room-temperature water, you must use soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate. (Silk can also be dyed with these same dyes with vinegar instead of silk, but in that case, steaming is required, and washfastness may be less.) The easiest way to dye any garment to a single solid color is in the washing machine; see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?". You will also need a large quantity of ordinary salt, in order to dye in the washing machine. If you can find Dylon Machine Dye (not available here in the US), that would work well.

Alternatively, you could follow the Tie Dyeing recipe to give your top bands of different colors, or of darker and lighter colors. See "How to Dye with Fiber Reactive Dyes" .

Whatever you do, do not use all-purpose dye or High Temp dye. It is not very washfast, and works only in simmering hot water (190°F or 87°C). Tintex Low Temp Dye is fine, however.

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Name: Ryugen
Message: I know you are busy beyond belief, but I will take a stab at this. I have a white wool beret that needs to be dyed to bright purple. It has a leather band on the inside. so hot water is nota great option. I ahve a "spare" leather band so if I have to remove and restitch (a real PITA) it is "possible" but another solution would be MOST appreciated 

TIA for your time and wonderful web site 

If it can tolerate lukewarm water, you might try the garbage bag dyeing method. This uses the same type of dyes that we use for tie-dyeing cotton, the Procion MX or Cibacron F types of dyes. Here are two sets of instructions:

Cold Batch Dyeing of Wool with Reactive Dye (PDF)

Garbage Bag Dyeing with Wool using PRO MX Reactive Dyes

All other wool dyeing recipes I've seen require that you boil the wool in the dye, or at least steam it; it seems likely that this treatment might shrink the wool, though, doesn't it?

Another option is the use of transparent fabric paint, instead of dye. Dye produces softer results, however.

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Name: Cassie
Message: After you have done your Tie Dying do you wash it?  If so how?
Thanks so much,

Yes, we wash out our tie dyed items once in cool water without detergent (or only with the special dyeing detergent called Synthrapol). Then we wash it two or three times in the hottest available water, with detergent, to remove all excess unattached dye.

This is the proper method for washing out after dyeing with a good fiber reactive dye, such as Jacquard Procion MX dye. However, if you used a poorer quality all-purpose dye, the dye will itself wash out if you use anything but gentle hand washing in cool water. 

I hope that you used good dye. All-purpose dye produces poor quality tie-dyes which do not withstand ordinary laundering at all well.

If you did use all-purpose dye, wait to wash it until you can mail-order a special fixative agent such as Retayne. This product greatly improves the washfastness of all-purpose dyes. You can buy it from your local quilting supply store, or from most of the dye suppliers around the world listed on my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page.

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Name: Melissa
Message: Hi, I love your website. I was wondering if it is possible to tie dye a small area on a white garment (ie: a circle of the front) and have the rest remain bright white. Is there a way to prevent the dye from coloring the white? Thanks for your help. Melissa

The best way would be to paint the dye on, carefully. Direct dye application allows you to color only those portions you wish to dye.

It is essential that you use the right kind of dye. A cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, can be fixed to the fabric without steaming, which makes it much easier to avoid staining the rest of the shirt. Avoid all-purpose dye at all costs.

A good way to avoid backstaining when you wash the excess dye out is to leave it for longer than is quite necessary to get the dye to set, then wash it first in cool water and then in hot water. The hot water wash may be repeated as many times as is necessary to remove the last bits of dye that have inadvertently transferred to the background during the first washing.

If you want a rainbow effect, with the colors bleeding into each other, you can use the dye unthickened. In this case great care must be taken to limit the amount of dye that you paint on, so that the rest of the garment does not become dyed. Thickened dye will behave more circumspectly, like a thicker fabric paint. You can use sodium alginate to thicken your dye. This can be purchased from the same source as your fiber reactive dye. Mail order is best for obtaining dye supplies, unless you happen to live close to one of the good mail order dye suppliers.

You will want to insert some dependable barrier, such as a plastic box, between the front and the back of the garment, if you do not wish the dye to bleed through to the back of the garment. An inexpensive large embroidery hoop can be very useful in stretching the area you wish to paint. You can use any sort of paintbrush you like, such as a foam paintbrush.

You should consider in advance whether you want to apply the soda ash as a presoak and line dry it before you apply the dye, or mix the soda ash with the dye and use it up within an hour or two, or apply an afterfix treatment by painting over your design with sodium silicate, which is a highly alkaline solution.

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Name: Gillian
Message: Hi. I wonder if you can help me with my disaster. I dyed a brand new pair of white linen trousers in the washing machine, with an indigo dye. The stitching has remained white, so they are completely ruined. Is there anything I can do? Thank you.

It is common for the polyester stitching used to sew garments together to remain undyed. See "Why did the thread stay white when I dyed clothing?", from the FAQ section of my website. 

The best way to avoid white threads, in dyeing, is to purchase PFD (prepared for dyeing) clothing that has been sewn with cotton thread.

If the white thread looks very bad on your linen trousers, I'm afraid the only practical solution is to remove the dye. I recommend Rit brand Color Remover, or similar products sold under the Carbona or Dylon brand names, in preference to chlorine bleach.

These products are not appropriate for use on real indigo dye, which is a vat dye, but you probably did not use real indigo dye, since the process is very difficult and complex. They are fine for attempting to remove an indigo color of all-purpose dye or cold water dye. They work very well on some dyes, but not at all well on others; unfortunately, we cannot predict which without knowing which exact dye you used.

Chlorine bleach will also remove many dyes, but it is more damaging to the fabric.

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Name: Amanda
Message: I have a baby blue formal dress. Is there a way to dye it so it will be a light purple or lilac? The dress has many different layers and I am not sure if all of the layers will take to the dye.

Is it washable? You cannot dye any garment that is not washable. The different layers may shrink in different amounts, ruining the dress.

What is the fiber content of each layer of the dress? Dyeing polyester requires that you boil it for an hour, which might damage the dress. If it is all 100% cotton or rayon, however, including the lining, it should be easy to dye with cool water fiber reactive dyes, if it is machine washable.

A baby blue dress that is dyed with pink dye will probably end up a pale lavender or lilac color.

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Name: Sarah

Message: Hello my name is Sarah. I have a couple of questions. I have some shirts that are black, and they're fading pretty badly. I want to try and dye them back, but they have white decals. Will the dye ruin the decals? Also, I want to try the wash and dye. Is that something that would work?

White decals or screen prints will be unaffected by the right dye.

Do not use all-purpose dye, because it requires heat, and because heating some plastics with all-purpose dye will result in their taking up dye. Also, all-purpose dye gives poor results which wash out quickly and are never very dark. Another product to avoid is fabric paint, such as Tumble Dye, because it is not as good as a good dye, and because it will cover up the white designs on your shirts.

The right kind of dye to use is cool water fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye. It is easiest and most economical to purchase this dye by mail-order from a company such as PRO Chemical & Dye. (See my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page for links to this and other suppliers around the world.) You will also need soda ash (sodium carbonate) and ordinary non-iodized salt.

Dyeing in the washing machine is an excellent way to get perfectly smooth solid results with fiber reactive dye. For instructions, see "How can I dye clothing or fabric in the washing machine?".

Whenever you dye anything black, be sure to always use two to four times as much dye as is recommended. Black requires a lot more dye than any other color does.

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Name: grace
Message: Hi, I came to find your site because I was doing a search.  I want to dye a pair of sneakers black.  They are Nike Presto, and the outside is made of some sort of synthetic fabric but it's deep purple.  I was wondering if you know of a black dye that I could use, and a place where it's cheap and not wholesale...or even if I should buy the ones they sell at the local stores.  Thanks. 

Synthetic material is a problem! What kind of dye you should use all depends on the exact composition of the fiber used to construct the outer part of the shoes, as well as on the presence or absence of stain-resistant finishes.

Polyester is very difficult to dye at home, and  polypropylene is impossible to dye at home. Nylon can be dyed, but it requires immersion in a very hot dyebath, which is not very good for a pair of shoes.

You're probably best off with avoiding dye entirely, and using fabric paint, instead. See Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers for more information on the difference between these two product categories. Look at the fabric paints at an online source such as Dharma Trading Company or PRO Chemical & Dye (see my Sources for Dyeing Supplies page for links to these and other suppliers around the world), or check out the fabric paint selection at your local crafts store.

Unlike your synthetic Nikes, cotton or hemp canvas sneakers are easily dyed with Procion MX fiber reactive dye, as long as they are not water-resistant and can survive being washed. You can just presoak cotton canvas sneakers with soda ash, then paint or squirt on different colors of Procion MX dye, such as from a tie-dye kit. Excellent tie-dye kits include those made by Jacquard, Dritz, Dylon, Rainbow Rock , or Tulip. The results can be very exciting and fun. Caution: do not use a hot-water dye, such as all-purpose dye, on shoes.


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[updated 2-15-2008]

Name: Elizabeth

Message: My son is having his 4th grade field day on Fri. Apr. 7th.  My friend and I dyed shirts using Rit dye.  We've already removed the rubber bands and tried to wash shirts off BUT THE COLOR is running off.  Please help us stabilize colors.

I am so sorry. This is a sad situation. All-purpose dye is a very poor quality dye when used with cool water. You should have used a cold water dye, such as Procion MX dye. It will be very easy to do this project next time, if you get the right dye first. In the future, always avoid all-purpose dye for dyeing cotton (or cotton/poly blends). Procion MX type dye can be purchased by mail-order, or in the tie-dye kits that are carried by many crafts stores. (Jacquard is the best brand; Rainbow Rock is okay; Rit brand tie-dye kits are not suitable except for hot water dyeing.)

Here is what you can do in order to make Rit dye work.

First, you must heat-set your dye. All-purpose dye is not a cold water dye. The best way to use it is by immersing the fabric in a pot with the all-purpose dye dissolved in 190°F water. (That is, dissolve the dye in water, bring it to nearly a boil, then add the tied fabric, then simmer it for half an hour.) The biggest drawback to this process is that you shouldn't reuse the pot for food, since Rit all-purpose dye is not food-safe. You will only be able to simmer a few shirts at a time, depending on the size of your dye pot.

If you have already applied your all-purpose dye to your fabric, then you must either follow the above method with additional dye, or you must steam the dye into the fabric. You can do this very much like you would steam vegetables. If you dampen your fabric first, you can wrap it completely in plastic wrap, thus (we hope) preventing the dye from contaminating your cooking pot. Use a vegetable steamer or other contrivance to keep the wrapped fabric out of the water at the bottom, for steaming. Apply the steam to the fabric with the lid on, ideally for thirty minutes after the water in the bottom comes to a boil.

Unfortunately, you cannot heat-set the dye with dry heat, such as in a clothes dryer or the oven; dry heat only works for fabric paint. Maybe you could set it by microwaving the shirts, first dampening them thoroughly and wrapping them in plastic wrap to 1, keep the shirts damp so that the microwave does not burn them up, and 2, to prevent the dye from contaminating your microwave oven. (Note that dry fabric in a microwave will catch on fire!)

Even after proper heat-fixing, all-purpose dye will always run a little in the laundry every time it is washed, causing the dye to be less than optimally permanent, and also ruining your other clothing if you do not sort carefully by color.

The best solution to make all-purpose dye more permanent, after heat-setting it, is to apply a commercial dye fixative known as Retayne. This is available only by mail-order or from your local quilting supply shop, if you are lucky enough to have a good one nearby. Other brands which work similarly are Raycafix, Dharma Dye Fixative, and Dyefix. You add these to a load of dyed items in the washing machine, with hot water; follow the instructions that come with the product.

I hope that some of this information will be of use. If you just want the shirts to quit bleeding, washing them in HOT water will remove most of the remaining unfixed dye. If you had time, I would advise you to do this and then start over with good dye, or even fabric paint.

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Name: Melinda
Message: To heat set the food coloring dye (Kool-aid), can I use an iron since I don't have access to a microwave in the classroom and a vegetable steamer takes 30 minutes?

No, unfortunately that will not work at all well. An iron produces dry heat, which will not do a good job for setting acid dye. You would have to continuously steam the same section of the fabric for a while in order to set the acid dye on the silk. It would be much easier to bring a hot plate and a vegetable steamer to the classroom. Or, you can treat the project much as you do works produced on paper. If you do not steam the dyes, you cannot wash the fabric, but you can allow it to dry and show it as a non-washable artwork. Or, you can take the dry silk fabric home, and steam it there before returning it to the classroom to show the students their results.

What kind of fabric are you using? You probably already know that you cannot use food coloring dye to dye cotton. Only silk, wool, and nylon will work with acid dyes such as food coloring.

If you need to be able to heat-set with an iron, rather than a steamer, I would recommend that you use fabric paint, rather than dye. If you use transparent fabric paint, you can get some neat effects with sun-printing, as one possible idea. You can do a sort of tie-dyeing with pigment dyes, which are actually not a dye at all, but a form of fabric paint. See "Fabric Paints: a different way to color fibers". You must allow the paint to dry thoroughly, preferably overnight, before ironing it.

Fabric paint can be set with an iron because the heat is causing a glue to bond to the fabric. This takes considerably less time (and moisture) than it takes for steam to allow acid dyes to form hydrogen bonds to attach to silk or wool.

Also see:

Using Food Coloring as a Textile Dye for Protein Fibers
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/fooddyes.shtml

How can I tie dye with Kool-aid or food coloring?
http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/drinkmix.shtml

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Name: Nancy
Message: I dyed a pair of denim bib overalls purple (after 3 times - 1. dyed and didn't take, 2. used Color Remover and then Fast Fade to "pre-treat" the denim, 3. dyed again with 2 purple and navy with a little wine.  NOW, they are too dark - like a brown eggplant.  How do I get them to a grape or amethyst color?

What kind of dye did you use? People often complain about getting the wrong color when using all-purpose dye. You will find dyeing to be easier, with better results, if you use a kind of dye called fiber reactive dye; the most popular type is called Procion MX dye.

You can buy Procion MX type dyes from most of the companies around the world that are listed on my page of Sources for Dyeing Supplies.

It is easier to get the desired color when starting from white, using PFD ("prepared for dyeing" clothing blanks. Since dye is transparent, you must always include the existing color when deciding which colors to add to it, as the colors will combine together in the final results. Fast Fade is a good idea for lightening the color of denim, but not all dyes can be stripped from a garment.

I receive hundreds of complaints about problems people have as the result of using inferior dye. Mail-ordering good fiber reactive dye takes a little more time, but is well worth the effort.

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